A GRANT of up to £1,000 awarded to Halesowen Carnival by Dudley Council this week is to be returned.

Carnival organisers had withdrawn applications for £5,000 from each of the town’s two community forums after successfully gaining £10,000 of Big Lottery funding to cover costs of next Saturday’s event (July 4)

The last-minute application was made after previous funding pleas had been rejected by the forums.

Carnival vice-chairman Councillor Stuart Henley said email correspondence had crossed which meant the Halesowen North and South Community Forum was presented with the application on Monday in error.

He said: “Having received the lottery funding, we felt the grant should be returned for other community use.”