COUNCIL chiefs have confirmed their decision to close the staff canteen at Trafford Town Hall - provoking an angry response from local authority union Unison.

But the ruling Labour group has agreed to consult with staff on the alternatives, after the scrutiny committee 'called in' the original decision and asked for more consultation, as well as for the tendering process to be looked at.

Town hall bosses decided to close the Stretford canteen to save the £50,000 a year subsidy it receives.

Leader of the council, David Acton, and deputy leader, Pauleen Lane, told a public executive committee that the £1,000 a week subsidy could be better spent on providing other services.

Cllr Acton claimed the market had already been 'tested quite vigorously' and no one was interested in running the canteen without the subsidy.

But Neal Linsky, the branch secretary of the union Unison, hit out at the council for ignoring the union's requests to provide figures on how much a meal would cost if the subsidy was removed. It believes this information should have been put to the 260 people who use the canteen each day to see if they were prepared to cover the full cost, and keep it open without a subsidy.

He added: "We have been asking for this information for months. But they have ignored our request for full information and closed it and ignored the scrutiny committee, which is very arrogant of them."

Cllr Acton told the public executive committee that the original decision to close the canteen was right. But he was happy to consult about alternatives.

Cllr Barry Brotherton, the executive member for human resources, agreed: "There is scope for consultation on what can be provided instead. It would be reasonable to get a range of options and then we can consult staff on these."

But Cllr Susan Fildes, the leader of the Tory group, said: "It seemed to me that scrutiny was asking you to consult more fully before you made that decision.

"You seem to be saying you have made your decision and will go through the cursory consultation."

Cllr Acton replied that scrutiny was not saying the council should provide the subsidy for the canteen - but that it should examine alternatives and it will do this.

He insisted the effect of increasing the cost of meals has already been shown, because whenever prices increased the number of people using the canteen went down.

The canteen will close in December.