A cash-strapped community group which splashed out on CCTV cameras to protect its council-owned hall is furious after being left to pick up the £2,000 bill.

Worthing Borough Council has turned down a request for help with the cost of the cameras at Heene Community Association's HQ in Heene Road.

The hall, which is owned by the council and leased to the association rent-free, has been at the centre of a spate of vandal attacks and was broken into four times in the past year.

On the last occasion hi-fi speakers were stolen and a ceiling tile damaged.

The association, which charges £2 a year membership and 60p a night for room hire, has since spent thousands of pounds on security measures including shuttered windows and the cameras, which were fitted in August.

When the group applied to the council for help they were turned down.

Now they have learned a second application for a grant from the council's £10,000 community safety fund has also been turned down.

Vice-chairman Stan Moore said: "The council are the landlords and we felt that as we were protecting their building they should contribute."

Cliff Harrison, the council's head of technical services, said: "They had some work done earlier in the year and sent us the bill saying it was our responsibility. Unfortunately under the terms of the lease they were wrong.

"We're responsible for the exterior and maintenance."