FORMER Petersfield Town Mayor John Crowhurst is to make a last-ditch stand to get more cash for two voluntary groups in the town.

Mr Crowhurst will ask Petersfield Town Council to grant more money to the Christmas lights and to Petersfield in Bloom when councillors take their final look at the budget estimates on Monday.

He plans to ask town councillors to rethink their budget and spend another £13,000 to help the volunteers and to enable vital work to be carried out on the banks of the Heath Lake.

The full council will be receiving a recommendation from its finance and general purposes committee to accept the budget for 2002 to 2003, which currently would mean a precept of £256,462, a three per cent rise in the townÕs spending.

Chairman of the finance committee Brian Keefe told councillors recently that there had been some drastic cuts to committee wish lists, thrashed out before the final budget estimates were presented to committees.

Among those worst affected were the Christmas lights group whcih had had its request for £12,000 slashed to £6,000.

The Petersfield in Bloom team, which was hoping to organise special displays for the QueenÕs golden jubilee, looked set to have its grant application chopped from £11,760 to £6,000.

But on Monday, Mr Crowhurst will propose that Christmas lights should receive the full £12,000 members asked for and Petersfield in Bloom should receive £8,000.

He will also make a plea for £5,000 to carry out work on the Sussex Road bank of the Heath Lake to stop erosion.

He told The Herald this week: ÒMany of our voluntary bodies are getting very tired because they are having to fundraise to achieve all they want to in the town.Ó

And he warned: ÒTo guarantee that Christmas lights and Petersfield in Bloom can do what the public expect them to do, the groups have to be funded in a very different way from the way in which they are funded now.Ó

Mr Crowhurst added that if Petersfield was to become a ÒgatewayÓ to the new South Downs National Park, there were some areas which would need to be tidied up.

These included grassy areas currently cut by Hampshire County or East Hampshire District Councils.

ÒIf we are going to benefit from the new national park, he stressed, Òwe are going to have to do everything we can to get people here.Ó

He said there had been serious erosion of the lake bank recently and several trees were in danger of falling into the water unless urgent action was taken.

Mr Crowhurst will ask councillors to set aside £5,000 in the budget for this work to be carried out.

He told The Herald his proposals would add £2 to council tax bills in Petersfield.