GROUPS hoping to take over closure-threatened community halls in outlying towns and villages need more support to do so, the Council’s opposition Conservatives have warned.

Halls in Denholme, Harden, Oakworth, Baildon, Menston, Burley-in-Wharfedale and Silsden are being hit by Bradford Council cuts.

The authority aims to hand ownership of the buildings over to community groups, but Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe had given a stark warning that if no-one came forward, “they will close”.

Now the Council’s Conservatives have called for groups to get an extension to a looming April deadline.

In a motion to Full Council, due to be taken to the vote tomorrow, the Tories have said no Council-owned community facility should close “before all possible alternatives for that community are explored and any discussions on asset transfer, sale or development are concluded”.

Group leader, Councillor Simon Cooke, said the motion was not about stopping the process but rather about giving communities more time. He gave the example of Denholme Mechanics’ Institute, where he said the community had still not been given reliable information about the building's running costs and income, and that “without information there’s no chance of a deal being concluded by April”.

He has also called for a review of a decision to axe subsidised rents for community groups in Council-owned buildings, saying that “hardly a day passes without someone telling me about yet another local group closing as a result of the Council’s actions”.

He said: “What really annoys people is that there seems to be endless money to buy up buildings in Bradford, pay for fancy light shows, install baby statues and illuminate the city centre but not a bean to keep open facilities in places like Shipley and Bingley.”

Denholme Town Council is one of a number of groups working together in an attempt to take on its Mechanics' Institute.

Denholme Town Councillor Anne Sherriff said some communities were further on with their transfer processes than others.

She said while she didn’t believe the Council was being deliberately obstructive, there was little chance of an agreement in Denholme before April and she urged the authority to “be more flexible about the deadline”.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Labour’s executive Member for regeneration, said the cuts to community halls were being caused by the Council’s “rapidly diminishing budget”.

He said: “Our approach is to work together with communities and to help groups who want to take on their valued assets. That’s why we put more money into the budget this year to fund more staff working on community asset transfers.”

He said asset transfers were often very complicated, adding: “We’re under no illusions and it’s a challenge but it’s simply untrue to claim that information is not being shared with community groups.

“We’re keen to help communities to retain their much loved buildings in the face of government cuts and we have hardworking councillors and officers doing dedicated work with their communities to achieve that.”