A FORMER Greig Centre trustee is calling for Stratford Council to turn down the venue's £800,000 bid for crucial funding.

Bill Bayley is writing to Paul Lankester, chief executive of the council, urging him to instruct officers not to give the money to the current board of trustees.

The move is part of Mr Bayley's campaign to change the way the centre is run.

He wants the Charity Commission to appoint a new board of trustees which will restore the centre to what he believes was its original intention - a community centre focusing on youth.

He is angry the present board plans to invest the £800,000 in the sports hall which, they say, will generate money for the main hall which needs thousands of pounds spending on toilet and kitchen facilities as well as general maintenance.

Mr Bayley claims other people have already contacted the council but he is the only one so far to be so publicly outspoken.

"I'm doing this on my own because I can and I don't have anything to lose," he told the Chronicle this week.

"But I'd like backing behind the scenes. I'd like to know Alcester people are behind me.

"I'm not out to defeat anybody, I just desperately don't want to lose the Greig Centre."

The £800,000 is part of £1 million allocated for Alcester by Stratford District Council as part of its commitment to improving sports halls.

The other £200,000 has gone to Alcester Grammar School, a move which will restrict the amount of activities on offer at the Greig site in the evening as they cannot be duplicated at the two venues.

The decision on the Greig's share of the cash has been held up, pending trustees submitting a business plan. This is now with council officers and the matter is due to be discussed by the council's executive committee next month.