A £16 MILLION programme to revolutionise service delivery at Dorset County Council was given the go-ahead at a meeting of the full council.

The massive IT investment comes at a time of County Hall service cuts, including day centres for the elderly.

Impassioned debate filled the council chamber yesterday, with the ruling Tory cabinet arguing that the council must spend to save.

Councillors voted by a majority of 22 to 12 to push ahead with a radical programme of reform based upon a computer system which will allow managers to work from any council building, and to hire and fire staff.

Council leader Cllr Angus Campbell acknowledged that the council was pursuing a high-risk strategy, but urged members to back his cabinet.

"There's a lot of risk around. Life is a risk.

"But there is also huge risk in doing nothing, which will lead us to suffer death by a thousand cuts," he said.

And Cllr Campbell defended the multi-million-pound investment in computer systems.

"The ICT system is the backbone of the entire programme," he said.

But Cllr Richard Biggs, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said the proposals he had been given included blank pages and no contingency plans for updates to the software.

"ICT is the biggest spend, and the most prone to disaster," he said.

Gillingham councillor David Milsted said the council should not proceed until it was more honest with voters.

"Nowhere in this proposal will you find the word cut' or closure' but this is what it is about," he said.

But the council's leader said that services remained the council's priority.

"Why are we doing this if not to protect frontline services?" asked Cllr Campbell.

Work will begin on the programme on December 1.