REDDITCH council chiefs are sticking to this year's allocation of major grants despite appeals from unsuccessful groups.

Five of the eight groups not awarded a grant submitted letters of appeal but councillors agreed their original decisions were sound and decided against any further determination of the applications unless they were supported by new evidence.

He added the organisations could write to the council if they felt there was information which had not been made available, which would then be considered by the existing grants panel.

Organisations set to benefit from the grants include the All Women's House, Citizen's Advice Bureau and Age Concern.

The groups that appealed were Redditch Credit Union, Redditch Baptist Church, Redditch Black History Group, What's Your Point? and the Descendants of Windrush, who later withdrew their appeal.

The others not awarded a grant were New Hope, Tripod and Relate Worcestershire.

The amount requested from the fund totalled £494,046 and the council's budget for grants in 2003/04 was set at £265,200, later raised by £15,000.