Bradford Council looks set to agree a £158 million upgrading of its ailing computer systems next week.

The authority's executive will be asked to give approval for computer experts to embark on ten years of refitting and rebuilding.

The project will affect everything from benefits inquiries and Council tax payments to the issuing of library books.

Council bosses, union leaders and senior managers at IBM/IT-net, the company selected for the project, have been negotiating the terms since 2002.

The executive will be asked to approve the Bradford-i project at a meeting next Tuesday. It is then likely to be debated at full Council later that day.

Only last week union strike action was called off after talks over the contract's terms for new starters and disciplinary procedures.

If the scheme is approved, the existing ten-year computing budget of almost £100 million will be ploughed into it along with £50 million-worth of efficiency savings that the new systems are expected to generate through around 150 staff not being replaced.

A further £8 million will be invested from the Council's reserves to prevent the need to borrow cash. Around £1 million of Government grants are also expected to be used.

On top of this, £2 million will be invested in a new, "future-proof", environmentally-controlled computer room. Much of the investment will happen in the first three years and staff retraining for the new systems is seen as a key part of the programme.

Steve Morris, Bradford Council's finance director and the officer in charge of the project, defended the amount of money involved. He said: "This is not money we would not otherwise be spending. We would be spending £100 million on maintaining the current structure that does not do the job we need it to."

He said customers will see improvements as Council systems which currently operate independently are linked and those carrying duplicate information are removed.

Mr Morris said the changes would see Bradford's systems "in the front rank of local authorities". He added: "The ambition is that within three years it will have transformed the effectiveness with which the Council can provide an immediate response to its customers on a wide range of services and move us away from the experience of people having to be passed to the right department.

"We are looking to move to a situation where, if you ask a question, we can answer it at the first point of contact 80 per cent of the time - at the moment its more like 20 per cent."

Councillor Kris Hopkins, the Council's executive member for corporate matters, said: "The document needs to be presented and considered by the executive and I look forward to that happening."