A COMMUNITY radio station faces an uncertain future after it missed out on vital council funding.

Ribble Valley Radio, based in Church Street, Clitheroe, applied for a community enhancement grant of £8,000 earlier this year, but bosses have been told they have missed out.

The decision has angered station organisers who claim they were promised money by the outgoing leader of the council, John Hill, prior to last week's local elections.

But Coun Hill has hit back at the claims and said that no councillor would ever promise money before it had been allocated.

Radio station chairman Steve Suttie, has also hit out at Ribble Valley Borough Council and said that the funding snub jeopardised three years of hard work.

In July the station will apply to Ofcom for full FM status that would allow them to broadcast on the airwaves, not just on the internet as they have been doing for some time.

Mr Suttie said: "We failed in our bid for a £8,000 community enhancement grant. This was make or break money for us and we can't sustain ourselves without it.

"It leaves us with no clear plan of were we can get money from.

"John Hill told me before the elections that there was plenty of money and that we would get some.

"To think this will fail and for him to have said that really hurts."

But Coun Hill has hit back at the claims and said that no councillor would ever promise money before it had been allocated.

He said: "I'm not in a position to offer money and have never said anything of the sort.

"I have suggested a way forward because I fully support Ribble Valley Radio. They maybe need to meet councillors with a view to discussing what funds can be made available."

Robert Thompson, chairman of the community committee, said that the radio station did not meet the criteria.

He said that grants were available under the community enhancement fund for capital funding or to pump prime capital projects.

But he said these were essentially projects that need a burst of initial funding to get them off the ground and the radio station's case did not meet these requirements.

He added: "This particular application was for revenue funding and therefore did not meet the criteria.

"The applicant has received an explanation as to why the application was unsuccessful and has been offered a package or support to find alternative sources of funding."