WEST Somerset charities have been given a reprieve after district councillors once again stepped back from large-scale funding cuts.

Children's charity CLOWNS had been in line for a 75 per cent cut while others, including the West Somerset Advice Bureau, ArtLife, HomeStart and Engage, all stood to lose 13.98 per cent of their district council funding - the amount West Somerset Council had lost in its own Government grant funding package.

But none of the charity cuts could be confirmed until an 'equalities impact assessment' had been carried out on the effect of the proposals.

Although cabinet members originally backed the cuts last month, when they met on Wednesday, they were told a re-think was needed following early feedback from the assessment process.

Cllr Kate Kravis, the lead member for finance, said the council was not prepared to decimate local services despite its funding pressures.

"We do feel we want to reinstate the whole of the grants to certain community groups.

"All these organisations help vulnerable people and we feel it is incredibly important that they remain.

"We are not prepared to put in danger how these groups operate in the coming year," Cllr Kravis said.

Under the new savings plan backed by cabinet members, the advice bureau would keep its £38,000 grant, HomeStart would retain its £3,000 funding package and Engage would hang on to its £3,000 grant.

CLOWNS would still receive a funding cut, but on a much lesser scale than the 75 per cent originally proposed.

Instead, it would lose 13.98 per cent or £1,398 of its £10,000 grant in the forthcoming year.

A similar 13.98 per cent cut would also be imposed on ArtLife, taking its grant from £14,700 to £12,645.

Details of the proposed cuts were discussed by cabinet members as part of a £159,457 savings package.

They pledged to limit the level of cuts to protect services, despite having to find more than £1.3 million in savings to balance the council's books in the coming years.

As well as cuts to charities, the savings proposed for the 2012/13 budget also included in-house savings and a reduction in the grant given to the Quantock Hills AONB service.

Other potential savings included £15,000 on the running costs of public conveniences, £15,000 by signing-up to a civil parking enforcement agreement and a £7,500 saving on a "management consultant".

Although cabinet members supported the outlined savings, a final decision on the proposals will be taken when the full council meets on February 29 to set the authority's budget for 2012/13.