LOTTERY cash distributors have hit back at accusations by a flood rescue service that it was denied funding because it is "too white".

The claims had come from Dave Walker, chairman of the Upton-upon-Severn station of Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA), after it was refused £5,000 Awards for All grants from the Big Lottery Fund for the fifth time in two years.

But Awards For All director Mike Wilkins has rejected this.

He said the organisation had already received two grants for equipment totalling more than £8,600 and applicants had to meet regional priorities.

And the grants were meant to be one-off awards and were not designed to be a regular source of income for any organisation - with priority given to groups that have never received funding, those with an income of less than £20,000 and projects costing less than £20,000.

"Because we receive more applications than we can fund, difficult choices have to be made," he said.

"The success and popularity of the scheme has meant applying for a grant is a competitive business.

"Often good projects are disappointed in any given year as there are more applications than money available."

SARA - which relies entirely on grants and donations and has 160 volunteers - has bases in Upton-upon-Severn; Beachley, near Chepstow, Monmouthshire; and Sharpness in Gloucestershire.

But Mr Walker said he stood by his initial remarks.

He added that the group had received more than £800 in donations from private individuals since the article ran in the Evening News and is now writing to the Lottery Fund to complain.

"We're not relying on the Lottery for regular funding and I think they're just smoke-screening to be honest," he said.

"We're a life-saving organisation and they're not looking at the big picture in all of this."