THE number of loyalist groups signing up to a Belfast bonfire management programme has dropped significantly for the first time since it began in 2005.
The scheme offers grants for family events in return for management of the bonfires, held on the night of July 11 each year.
While a small number of republican groups have in the past applied for funding for August bonfires, the vast majority of money goes to loyalist communities.
The scheme has in the past been credited for moving pyres away from interfaces and reducing the number of tyres, flags, political symbols and effigies being burnt.
Last year 52 community organisations took part in the Belfast scheme and received grants of up to £2,300 for reducing the impact caused by the fires.
However, this year the council confirmed that just 40 groups have signed up.
In previous years the council has sought to bring new communities into the programme through outreach work.
The fall is even more significant because Belfast inherited nine bonfires from Castlereagh when the councils merged last year, meaning there has been a drop in participation of around a third.
The decrease has been blamed on growing disillusionment in loyalist communities who object to the terms of the bonfire management scheme.
Last month South Belfast ACT, a group with former UVF prisoners as members, announced it would no longer be adhering to the programme.
It came just weeks after the Loyalist Communities Council, set up last year with the support of the three main loyalist paramilitary groups, announced new protocols that they hoped would further reduce tensions around bonfires.
The ACT spokesman said: "Over the years (Belfast City Council) has imposed restrictions around loyalist bonfires to the point that the ACT initiative feel they have become totally unrealistic and appear to be designed to dismantle unionist culture."
The group added that while it would not be applying for funding, it would still work with the fire service around safety issues.
It is thought that public liability insurance had been sought by the council from organisers of Twelfth-themed fun days.
The Irish News understands that loyalists have also applied for grants from other agencies to facilitate events around the July 11 and 12 period, but that the money will not be linked to bonfires.
Loyalist Jamie Bryson has claimed schemes linking funding to bonfires are illegal because the fires themselves are considered to break the law.
