THE amount of money Bradford Council will grant to community groups is set to be slashed in the next year.

In the past year the authority has awarded £436,000 of grants to community groups and charities to help them with costs related to the buildings they are based in.

But in the 2019/20 financial year that amount will drop to £250,000 as the Council tries to tighten its purse strings.

And many of the groups that rely on this funding may not find out whether they are successful in their bids until just a few days before they are awarded.

The money is given to organisations with low levels of resources, and without the funds to pay the full cost of running buildings like community centres without support.

It is distributed by the Council's five area committees, assuring each constituency has its fair share of funding.

Mahmood Mohammed, Stronger Communities Coordinator at Bradford Council has been briefing the district's area committees on the cuts over the past week.

He told the Bradford East Area Committee: "The good news is we still have a budget. The bad news is, it has been massively reduced."

Councillor Brendan Stubbs (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said: "I find it offensive that we are taking money away from community groups despite asking them to do the tasks that we as a Council plan on stopping doing."

The new budgets will come in from April 1.