KEIGHLEY Volunteer Centre could lose crucial funding and others could have their cash axed as part of a shake-up of Bradford Council grants.

Cuts to the funding of community development work are due to hit Keighley and Shipley this week, although Bradford South could benefit.

The shake-up is designed to spread money more evenly across the district.

Keighley Volunteer Centre in North Street could lose all its community work grant, worth more than £24,000, to the organisation this year.

Chief officer, Gary Pedley, said: “We are going to have to lose a member of staff and their contract will come to an end at the end of March.”

He added while the centre only had funding for a year, the community development worker had achieved a lot, including a new job club at the Rainbow Children’s Centre in Braithwaite.

A smaller community development grant of £21,000 per year for two years could instead go to a new commission, the Hainworth Wood Community Centre in Woodhouse.

The Keighley News recently reported the future of the centre’s activities was under threat due to the loss of funding – from a separate grants body – for its community worker Sonia Evers.

Grants for Keighley and Ilkley Volunteer and Community Action, as well as Bracken Bank and District Community Association, are likely to continue at a reduced level.

Proposed changes will be finalised by Keighley Area Committee at its meeting tonight. Shipley Area Committee was last night expected to continue lowered funding for recipients.

Bradford Council gives out hundreds of thousands of pounds yearly to fund community development workers. The amount spent is poised to rise next year rather than drop, but it is being distributed more evenly.

Keighley Volunteer Centre’s main role is to support local volunteering, both recruiting and finding suitable people for a wide range of organisations.

Recent activities have included establishing a youth club in Fell Lane, overseeing Braithwaite’s community allotment, supporting the Lund Park Community Group and sporting the Sue Belcher Centre in Bracken Bank.