CHILDREN'S charity CLOWNS is facing a 75 per cent drop in its grant from West Somerset Council as the true cost of central Government cutbacks hits home.

Although a final decision will not be taken until councillors meet on February 23, the authority confirmed on Wednesday that is was looking to save £626,036 in the 2011/12 financial year just to balance its books.

CLOWNS stands to lose £7,500 of its £10,000 a year grant, while ARTlife, which was in line for a £7,500 cut in its grant, is now likely to see that more than doubled to £15,300, half its original £30,600 budget.

Kathy Morton of CLOWNS declined to comment on the implications of the council's proposal until a final decision had been taken.

But she told the Free Press the authority's support to date had been much appreciated.

"The support the district council has given us over the years has helped us gain further grants from larger funding organisations such as the lottery and Children in Need," she said.

"It is imperative we have district council support or these bigger organisations don't think we are looked on favourably in our own district."

Other cuts on the cards include the Community Council for Somerset which could have all its funding stopped, saving the district authority £2,000 a year, as could Active Exmoor, saving another £7,000.

A spokesman for the council said much of Active Exmoor's functions were now overseen by partner organisations and the last remaining staff member had left in recent months.

Internal savings at the council could net a further £272,000 through a negotiated pay freeze for all staff and management and service reviews.

As previously reported, the authority had been expecting to have to make around £414,000 in savings to meet anticipated Government cuts but was dealt a massive blow when the reduction in its central Government grant was almost double what it had feared.

Councillors were warned an extra £290,000 in savings would have to be found just to balance the books, with redundancies, service cuts and increased charges all in the mix.

Council leader Cllr Tim Taylor said this week: "The Government has 'front-loaded' the cuts, meaning that the council will need to find savings of over £1.275 million in the next two years, rather than the next four years as most authorities had anticipated.

"Although we will be doing all we can to protect frontline services, the draft list contains proposed cuts to services, cuts to the council's discretionary rate relief and some cuts to community funding that we had previously striven to put off in the hope that other funding may become available."

He said the council was hoping to make 44 per cent of the overall savings through a review of its own services, which would "almost certainly" lead to job losses.

"When a council already has fewer than 94 full-time equivalent staff, this represents a big hit for a small organisation," Cllr Taylor said.

Despite the gloom, there was some good news for other charitable organisations in West Somerset.

The draft list proposes to keep the £3,000 funding for the volunteers charity Engage West Somerset, while the West Somerset Advice Bureau, which receives £38,000, and HomeStart West Somerset, which gets £3,000, would also keep their cash pots intact.

Katrina Midgley, chief executive officer of Engage, welcomed the proposal after facing months of funding uncertainty.

"We are delighted at this news, which is a huge relief," she said. "It also demonstrates that West Somerset Council values Engage's work in supporting communities and civil society groups in West Somerset.

"We look forward to continuing to support the council in delivering its corporate aims and hope councillors will support the proposal."

Cllr Kate Kravis, the council's lead member for finance, said the authority had done all it could to find savings that did not affect services for the most vulnerable members of the community.

But she said the Government cuts had been so severe it was inevitable some would suffer.

"Much as we are loathe to make these cuts, we cannot legally approve a budget that is not balanced.

"We have written to partner organisations and asked for their comments on the proposals so that these can be taken into account when the draft list is discussed," Cllr Kravis said.

The proposed savings list will be discussed by cabinet members on February 2 before going to full council two weeks later.

Among the other cost-saving proposals are plans to partially close public toilets in Porlock, Minehead and Dunster during the winter to save £2,000 and cutting all funding for the West Somerset Strategic Partnership and the moped loan scheme, which together would save £4,500.