THE rug has been pulled from underneath Morecambe's planned Goth festival.

The £10,000 that was to be paid to organisers of the festival to help pay for the hire of bands and venues in March has been withdrawn.

Lancaster City Council's regeneration review board yesterday (Wednesday) backed a cabinet decision not to financially support the Goths after it was 'called in' - hauled back for discussion - by a coalition of Morecambe Bay Independents and Conservatives.

The festival, organised by Arcane, has been deemed an 'out of season event' attracting minimal numbers of people.

But Cllr Susan Bray said the council could not 'afford to turn it down' and that the hoteliers would be very appreciative of the revenue in a quite month.

Cllr Ian Barker said that it was with great reluctance the cabinet decided to withdraw funding.

He added: "I felt that we could not support the festival when we are faced with a 21.1 per cent increase in council tax. We had to do something to reduce our expenditure."

He was backed up by Cllr Ron Sands, who said: "The festival cost us £10,000 and only brought in about 500 people for one night. We do want the Goths but we can't afford such a high price to have them here."

o The city council's festival budget for the next financial year is also being slashed by £48,000.

The decision ratified by the review board effectively ends the Worldbeat Weekend (saving £12,800), Festival of Comedy (£15,400) and Jacobite Day (£2,100), with the Lancaster Maritime and Georgian festivals being combined into one event to save another £8,900.