THE town council has enlisted the support of a regional body in its battle to get Alcester's annual maintenance grant reinstated.

Councillor Chris Gough told the council at a recent meeting he had gained the support of the Warwickshire and West Midlands Association of Local Councils in objecting to the decision to axe the town's landscaping allowance.

He said the association had unanimously passed a resolution to write to Stratford District Council objecting to lack of consultation about cutting the section 136 payments to parish and town councils.

The section 136 has involved the payment of up to £40,000 a year to the town council for maintaining district council-owned green spaces and play equipment since 1972.

Mr Gough said: "I do not see how Stratford District Council can justify pushing this on to parishes, they make savings and we pay for them."

He said they were waiting for the association to get a reply and they planned to get district councillors involved in finding out what the original agreement had been.

He also confirmed he did not plan to involve the Standards Board at this stage.

"I still believe we should work in partnership and we should be able to negotiate," he added.

But district councillor Alan Akeister, portfolio holder for environmental services, said the situation would not change, and a letter would be going back to the association explaining the matter fully.

"The rest of the district cannot continue to subsidise the residents of Alcester to the tune of £14 per household, it just could not continue with other cuts we had to make across the board," he said.

He said the only way the situation would change was if a proposal was made to find the money at a budget meeting from another pot in the budget.

"And with every area looking to save money, that is going to be very difficult for any councillor to justify."