SPORTS clubs, community groups and advice services have made a last-ditch plea to be spared from swingeing cuts, which they say could drive many to the wall.

Voluntary and community organisations have sounded the alarm about a range of planned cuts to the work they do, including the axing of subsidised rents and rates, which could see some groups' running costs hiked by tens of thousands of pounds a year.

Yesterday, the council's executive heard emotional accounts about the pivotal role these organisations played in their communities, from feeding the hungry to getting people active.

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Sandra Grice, of Windhill community centre, said that if all the planned changes went ahead, her centre would be facing a tenfold hike in their rents, from £600 to £6,500 a year, as well as cuts to their advice service, community development work and public health work.

Ms Grice, who is also vice-chairman of the Bradford community advice network, said changes to the welfare system meant this work was more important than ever.

She said: "We are feeding people who are hungry. That is not something we have ever done before. If somebody comes into our centre in a desperate situation, we give them hot food."

Ms Grice said one man who came in to the centre seeking advice had not eaten for three days.

She said: "He couldn't remember his national insurance number because he just couldn't function.

"After he was given coffee and biscuits, he was a completely different person."

She said they discovered he had been given benefit sanctions, which they were then able to challenge.

Brian Pearson, secretary of Woodlands Cricket Club in Oakenshaw, said the axing of rate relief would hit 35 of the district's cricket clubs, as well as a number of other sports clubs, and warned some of them, including his own, could be forced to close.

He urged people to make their voices heard and write to the council opposing the cuts before the budget is set later this month.

He said: "At Woodlands, we are not only a cricket club, we are a community hub. Within our walls we have an old people's day care centre three days a week."

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The meeting heard planned cuts to library services and the youth service had also prompted a lot of objections during the public consultation.

Community groups have already spoken out about how the cuts would threaten the future of two community hubs - the South Square Centre in Thornton and the Kirkgate Centre in Shipley.

South Square would see its peppercorn rent hiked to £26,000 a year, which could force them to close, while the Kirkgate Centre's rent would rise from £1,000 to about £20,000 a year.

Council leader, Councillor David Green, said the executive would announce its finalised budget plans for 2016-18 in two weeks' time, before taking them to full council.

He said the council was facing huge budget pressures, but had a good track record of changing proposed cuts in the light of public feedback.

He said: "That is just becoming harder and harder as the cuts bear deeper and deeper, but we will do our best to respond to the consultation."

Currently, many sports clubs and community groups in the district get discounts on their business rates, and those in council-owned buildings also often pay peppercorn rents.

Under cost-cutting plans, these subsidy schemes would both be scrapped, saving Bradford Council £490,000 a year but leaving many organisations with a sudden hike of tens of thousands of pounds in their running costs.

The council also plans to cut £1m from financial and welfare advice services across the district over a two-year period, as well as cutting community development budgets by three-quarters, or £300,000 a year, from 2017.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Pearson said the not-for-profit sector represented incredible value for money, with a lot of sports clubs operating "on a shoestring", but a financial hit like this would leave many with no option but to fold.

Councillor David Robinson (Ind, Wyke), whose ward includes Woodlands Cricket Club, added: "This could be the death knell for not only cricket clubs, but also bowling clubs and other recreational clubs."

The council's opposition Conservative group has said it is opposing the cuts to rent and rate subsidies.

Its leader, Councillor Simon Cooke, said: "It is ridiculous to, in effect, threaten the existence of important community organisations by increasing their bills, which is going to close some of them."

He said the combined saving of less than half a million pounds, could be found elsewhere, adding: "There is a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of all sorts of organisations, so we won't be supporting it."

The council's Liberal Democrat group has also voiced its concerns over the planned cuts.

The council's executive will finalise its budget proposals at a meeting on February 23. The budget will then be set at a full council meeting on February 25.