LANCASHIRE County Council has received just £10,000 of area-wide funding to help it deliver the government’s anti-terrorism strategy, a committee of councillors has heard.

All local authorities have had a duty to play a role in the Prevent programme since 2015. Their responsibilities include tackling the causes of extremism and supporting residents identified as being at risk of radicalisation.

The county received an initial £10,000 grant to help it incorporate the strategy in its day-to-day working – most of which was spent on developing specialist websites for schools.  

Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley councils have received additional cash for their own areas, because they were identified as priority locations for the Prevent programme. However, Burnley will lose so-called ‘tier 2’ status – and the funding which went with it – next March, as it is no longer considered a sufficiently high-risk area.

Tony Martin, county councillor for Burnley Central West, said the decision meant that the town had become “a victim of its own success”.

“Councils got this responsibility landed on them at fairly short notice and there was the threat that if we didn’t do it properly, we would have commissioners coming in and telling us how to do it,” County Cllr Martin added.   

He said local authorities now faced the “threat without the carrot of funding”.

“There is never any charge from Lancashire County Council for delivering training,” Pam Smith, Lancashire County Council’s Prevent lead told the authority’s external scrutiny committee.

“Training delivered to council services and communities is provided by qualified trainers who go through a process to be recognised,” she added.

But the meeting heard that the overall cost to the authority has never been calculated.   

“If the government aren’t paying, then the ratepayers of Lancashire are – and it would be interesting to know how much,” committee member Carl Compton said.   

A final figure has been requested from officers and will be reported back to the committee at a later date.

County councillor Peter Buckley, cabinet member with responsibility for Prevent, said it was not just a funding issue.