GROUPS that receive grants from Farnham Town Council will have to tighten their belts next year, as a decision taken last November to cut revenue funding by 20 per cent each year starts to bite.
Organisations including Farnham Maltings, Farnham Citizens Advice Bureau and Farnham Carnival were among those affected, as the full council ruled on the recommendation of its grants panel.
Although some individual cases found champions among the councillors, the council stuck to its guns and voted through reductions in every case.
The Maltings Association, which had applied for £30,000, will only receive £20,000, with a percentage of it to be spent on live theatre.
Town clerk Roland Potter told the council that the reduced figure was being recommended in the light of a surplus of more than £81,000 made by the organisation last year.
Bob Frost pointed out that the Maltings' reserves were only so high because they included grants received from various bodies relating to specific projects.
He also pointed to the outreach work being carried out by the Maltings in the form of workshops at The Chantrys and Roman Way. "They are actually doing something about going out into the community."
The councillor went on to oppose a cut in the grant for Farnham Carnival.
The organisers' request was for £4,000 in total, but £2,630 was agreed - £1,000 for entertainment and the remainder for safety measures and general facilities.
Mr Potter commented: "The difficulty is with events generating more than the town council is putting into them."
But Mr Frost argued that the collection made during the carnival was for charity, and couldn't be set against the cost of funding the event. The carnival was very important to Farnham, he said, and should not have its funding cut.
Although the reduced grant was approved, the concession was made that if the carnival ran into hardship, it could come back with a further request.
The same allowance was made for Farnham CAB, which requested £30,000 and was awarded only £24,000.
Roger Steel was among those who expressed regrets over this particular cut, among many "deserving cases".
He said: "Over the last six months the number of people visiting the CAB has increased dramatically. In these circumstances I would like to see them have more money in order to finance the extra work."
Other applications settled included: 40Degreez (£4,800), Voluntary Action SW Surrey (£1,600), New Farnham Repertory Actors Company (up to £1,750), Farnham Festival (£650), Vivaldi Singers (nil), Project 2010 (nil) and Creative Response (nil).