THIS year's Brighton carnival procession may be the last because of "penny pinching" by the council, organisers warned today.

Brighton Lions Club says the hugely popular annual event is in jeopardy because of a £650 bill from Brighton and Hove Council. The extra cost would mean half the cash donated by the public during the course of the procession from Grand Avenue to Preston Park going to council coffers. Brian Slater, Lions vice-president, said: "It is like a slap in the face." The £650 charge is for putting up road signs, traffic cones, and temporary barriers to close off Grand Avenue, Hove, where floats gather for the start of the procession, according to a fax sent to the club by the council's environmental services department. Abreakdown of costs given to the Lions by the council lists £440 for six no right turn signs, six no left turn signs, 12 temporary warning barriersand 62 cones, plus £210 for advance warning signs on main roads into the town. The council is looking into the charge. A council spokesman said: "We have to hire contractors to do this work and pay them. We have a number of organisations which wish to have processions to raise money and we cannot make exceptions. "If we do pay for this it is at council taxpayers' expense." In previous years, before local council reorganisation, Hove Council made no charge to the Lions. Mr Slater said: "It came completely out of the blue. We feel it is unfair in view of the many thousands of pounds the carnival has raised for charity over the years. "We don't dispute there is a cost involved to the council, but £650 is steep. "People give donations as the procession goes through the town specifically because they think the money is going direct to charity." The carnival procession, which has been running for 34 years, attracts around 40 floats and thousands of spectators. The Lions have pledged that this year's procession will go ahead as planned on July 25 to avoid disappointing people already planning floats, but in future years the procession may be scrapped. The carnival would be reduced to a fair and attractions at Preston Park.

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