RURAL communities are to fight Darlington Council's decision to withdraw vital village hall funding.

The move, seen as the only way to save the heart of many villages, could bring to a head the simmering row between town and village within the borough.

Last month, voluntary community associations received a letter from the education department telling them the community grant aid scheme would be withdrawn from next April.

In future, the grant will only support and manage identified youth work schemes.

At Tuesday's meeting of the Darlington Association of Parish Councils and Parish Meetings, Coun Gerald Lee, of Heighington, urged members to fight back.

He said: "At a time when the Countryside Agency's Vital Village initiative is encouraging village halls to improve facilities, our local authority is trying to close them down.

"Village halls are the lifeblood of many places. Without the grant aid as it is, they will simply have to close down.

"The council has gone about this in a very cloak and dagger way without consulting the borough councillors or the village hall associations.

"I urge all associations to meet rural councillors to discuss their next move in the campaign against these cuts.

"Obviously the driving force for these cuts is to get parish councils to increase their precepts to cover costs."

Withdrawal of funding, which ranges from £1,750 a year to £4,500, depending on the voluntary organisation, is likely to save the council £22,914 a year.

From April 2003, savings will be channelled into specific youth projects which include detached youth work, the project bus, Prince's Trust XL Award, peer mentoring, outdoor education, PS2K, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, youth achievement awards and the Blitz contact bus - projects, Coun Lee claimed, from which few people benefited.

"In Heighington, the Blitz bus drops in for two hours once a week and I doubt whether ten people use it.

"In contrast, the village hall is used regularly by 150 Scouts, primary school children, elderly people and residents of all ages.

"Clearly the borough council has forgotten its promises to the rural communities when they asked for our support in their bid to become a unitary authority.

"Typically, grant aid to Firthmoor, Redhall, Branksome, Skerne Park, Haughton and Eastbourne community centres will be retained.

"The losers are Bishopton, Brafferton Heighington, Sadberge and Summerhouse village halls, Middleton St George and Hurworth community associations and Neasham Reading Rooms, which cater for all ages.

"We must audit the use of all these rural facilities and set a course for action."

A spokesman for the council said: "Organisations will still be able to apply for grant aid as long as it is for the provision of youth activities."