WARRINGTON Borough Council has cut £140,000 of funding for sports activities aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour.

Monies given to Livewire for sports development across the town, including youth outreach sports sessions, will be stopped from April this year.

The funds, which will cease from 2019/20 onwards, helped to run activities for young people in a bid to combat anti-social behaviour.

A Livewire spokesman said: "We understand the financial constraints faced by Warrington Borough Council, and that difficult decisions have to be made.

"Livewire can confirm that the £140,000 funding we receive from Warrington Borough Council for sports development - including youth outreach sports sessions - will no longer be available to us from 2019/20.

"As a community interest company, Livewire highly values the provision and importance of these services, and the wide-ranging benefits they bring to our communities.

"As such, we are looking at how we can sustain some of the provision of these services, to try to limit the impact of the funding cuts."

Warrington Borough Council said that it had pulled the funding to Livewire in order to 'fund the most effective activities that provide the best value for money'.

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A council spokesman added: "We are committed to working with partners, including Livewire, to provide a wide-ranging and varied programme of activities for our young people.

"However, it is vital that we fund the most effective activities that provide the best value for money.

"The focus of youth outreach sports sessions was on a minority of youths who had been identified as engaging in anti-social behaviour.

"This will cease from April as part of our new way of working and will avoid duplication of funding.

"The Community Initiatives Fund continues to support local community groups, and we are working with sport development organisations like the Football Association, Rugby Football League and Sport England for ways to support local sports groups and initiatives.

"Many of the local sports initiatives benefit from a mix of partner contributions, business sponsorship and external sources of revenue.

"We continue to work with a wide range of partners including Warrington Youth Club, youth services and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service - particularly around diversionary projects which address anti-social behaviour.

"The MyLifeWarrington website is a fantastic resource which provides access to the full programme of activities that are provided across the borough for our young people."