MORE than 25 clubs, bands, choirs and community groups are set to fight it out after cuts of £134,000 were unveiled to grants schemes in Pendle.

Budget cuts look set to see payouts to voluntary, community and other organisations reduced from £474,260 to £339,610 for the period 2013-14.

No funding allocations are proposed for the likes of Groundwork, the Talented Young Athletes programme run by Pendle Leisure Trust, PEARL for the ACE Centre and West Craven Together.

Their financial backing came from a combination of transition grants and area-based funding, which has now expired.

And 22 other organisations, which currently receive £55,690, must bid to area committees and a central fund for funding totalling £40,000.

Dean Langton, central services head, said in an executive report: “An amount of £5,000 would be retained centrally for allocation by the executive to those organisations that are borough-wide and not closely aligned to individual area committees.”

This could present difficulties for groups including Nelson Swimming Club – it currently gets £10,000 through a Pendle Leisure Trust grant but the entire budget for the town’s area committee has been set at £10,600.

Several other grants, totalling around £78,000, will be met by using extra income gleaned from changing council tax discounts for second homes in the borough.

But under this system, Building Bridges are still expected to have their allocation cut from £30,000 to £20,000.

But Pendle Domestic Violence Initiative should see a rise from £35,000 to £43,000.

The council is set to use £1.7million of its reserves to stave off major spending reductions this year but must find cuts of more than £4million extra by 2016-17.

The final decision rests with the borough council’s executive, which will meet to discuss various budget matters next Tuesday.