Liberal Democrat councillors argue that the funding gap could threaten the delivery of major projects including the Arborfield Secondary School, and the new roads promised across the borough.

The budget, approved at a full council meeting last week, included £95m ear-marked for the new school, and roads as well as the redevelopment of the town centre .

Cllr Lindsay Ferris argued for the capital programme to be referred to the overview and scrutiny committee.

He said: “In all the time I have been a councillor on Wokingham Borough Council, both now and before, I have never seen such a chaotic, unsustainable and risky capital programme as that which is presented to us here tonight.

“The Conservatives trumpet a £95m programme for the coming year, yet fail to point out that £41m of this is not new investment but was announced last year. They haven’t delivered investment in the past yet the Conservatives are making more promises than ever for the future.” In particular the Liberal Democrats have attacked the soaring cost of the town centre redevelopment.

Prue Bray, leader of the biggest opposition party on the borough council, criticised the plans at the meeting on Thursday last week.

She said: “This time last year we were discussing a total cost of regeneration of £95m, of which £15m had already been spent, leaving £80m. From looking at this year’s figures, including carry forwards and what has been spent in the meantime, that money, which was far too much already, has grown to a quite staggering £124m.” This represents an increase of nearly 50 per cent.

Cllr Philip Mirfin, the Conservative executive member for regeneration, said that the Liberal Democrats had got their figures wrong.

He said: “We’re seeking from them, through the chief executive, where they have secured these figures because they’re completely out of the spectrum we’re looking at.

“We are still within the, roughly, £100m budget that we have always had.” Cllr Anthony Pollock, the Conservative executive member for economic development and finance, said: “We have an ambitious council programme but that’s because we’re building 13,500 houses so we have to put in infrastructure.

“In year three our aspirations are much bigger than our income at that point and we will have to prioritise accordingly.”