THE bidding process for lottery cash should be made simpler, Redditch councillors have claimed.

The call comes after council officers spent more than a year preparing a three-stage bid for a 'healthy living centre', only for it to be turned down in May.

The council had asked for about £860,000 from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to upgrade and improve health provisions in various parts of town.

But in May, the bid was refused after NOF said the application did not include clear objectives.

At a full council meeting on Monday, councillors agreed to write to NOF calling for the bidding procedures to be simplified.

Conservative councillor Carol Gandy said it was 'farcical' officers should have been 'strung along' after a positive response from NOF in the early stages of the bid.