THE budget for Darwen’s premier music festival could be slashed because of a funding row.

Council chiefs say the line-up for Darwen Live would be affected if they were hit with the bill for policing costs of up to £31,000.

The bill, which makes up around half of the free show’s budget, used to be paid by the police.

But following a landmark legal case, the costs for policing events such as Darwen Live could be transferred to the organisers.

Talks are now under way between Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire Police to try to find a solution.

But with the council’s leisure and culture department facing a spending squeeze because of a budget shortfall, bosses admit it would struggle to swallow the extra costs.

Coun Michael Law-Riding, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Tory leisure and culture chief, said: “It’s a lot of money.

“If the costs were running at that sort of level it would affect the programme.

“We would either have to increase the budget, which in this climate is going to be very, very difficult to do, or restrict the programme.

"We are currently talking to the police to try to find a solution to the problem.”

Darwen Live, which usually takes place at the end of May, is a two-day music festival established in 1999, which provides local musicians with the opportunity to showcase their talents alongside well-known performing artists.

The precedent for this fall-out came in 2008 when Wigan Athletic Football Club chairman Dave Whelan, a former Blackburn Rovers player, lost a court battle over policing costs for matches.

Speaking at a council meeting, police authority chairman Malcolm Doherty said the force had not suggested it would look to recover the full bill, which includes £14,000 in officers’ overtime.

He said: “No charge has been made to the council in the past. The constabulary wants to sit down with the organisers.”