A COMMUNITY centre in York has managed to half its running costs and stave off financial ruin by canny renegotiations of its maintenance contracts.

The volunteers behind Foxwood Community Centre have slashed £2,000 off their annual bills since they took over from City of York Council - the difference between survival or going under - and is now urging other groups to do the same.

The council announced in 2012 that it would be withdrawing support for community centres across the city, and in April this year Foxwood lost its annual grant of £7,500.

Like many other centres across the city, it was taken on by a group of volunteers and the new committee inherited the maintenance contracts - for everything from electric safety to fire and intruder alarms - at a cost of around £4000 a year.

The committee treasurer Jean Forrester said: "Any penny we can save helps because we have to be self funding now, and these were all new expenses to us."

Committee member Sue Galloway spent three weeks gathering quotes from other suppliers, and by switching providers managed to get the annual costs down to just £1,600.

The savings came from things like the intruder alarm, where £1,099 was cut from the cost, and the fire alarm where £595 was saved in part because the volunteers found they were being charged by two companies to do the same job, and maintenance for the fan convectors which saved another £70.

Sue added: "This is the difference between survival and going under."

Taking the financial pressure off means the committee volunteers can "sleep at night" again, she said.

"I would urge all other community centres to look very carefully at their contracts to see whether or not they can get any savings."

The savings have also seen Foxwood Community Centre switch to local suppliers, helping businesses in York, and mean it can keep rental fees for the groups which use its facilities competitive.

- Foxwood Community Centre will next month host a summer fair. The event on Saturday, June 6 runs from 1pm-4pm and will include a birds of prey display, stalls and other attractions, and refreshments. Entry is free.