TAVISTOCK county councillor Debo Sellis gave a village hall project a £400 boost after revealing her budget which helps with local good causes is set to be cut from April.

Cllr Sellis, who also represents Gulworthy, told Tavistock town councillors that her locality budget, which currently stands at £10,000 per year, will be reduced by £2,000 as a result of massive financial pressures facing the county council.

She told town councillors that there are ‘significant financial pressures of £87.4 million’ which related mainly to increased pressures on children’s and adult and health services.

Cllr Sellis said the county council had to save £38.7 million to set a balanced budget, which all local government authorities had to deliver by law.

As she handed over her cheque for £410 to Gulworthy village hall chairman Jim Chalcraft towards for a microwave oven for the project’s kitchen, Cllr Sellis, who regularly uses her local budget to help projects in the Tavistock area, said she was disappointed with the cut, which affects all county councillors.

But she said she accepted the decision because of the financial problems facing the county council, which is spending around £4million a day on public services.

Cllr Sellis made it clear she would still be supporting Tavistock-area projects, but added that she would also be looking to help groups improve their methods of fundraising.

She added: ‘The fact that there is a £2,000 reduction to my budget means that I will be putting more emphasis of finding ways we can work together as a community to raise money.’

Mr Chalcraft said Cllr Sellis’ support was a welcome addition to the funds the hall already raise through community events.

He said that she had probably put thousands of pounds into the project since it first started nearly 18 years ago.

Mr Chalcraft said the hall, which is in a parish of just 500 residents, was finding its funding not just through community events, but also by hiring out the premises to groups from outside Gulworthy who wanted to use it.

He said although the project had taken nearly two decades, he was confident that it was nearing its completion.

Mr Chalcraft said plans for the hall, which dates from the early 19th century, included the addition of an extension, for which they currently looking at raising funds.