FORMER members of a residents group in Southampton who quit in a row over how regeneration cash was being spent, have set up a new body to fight for local interests.

Last week all seven members of the Outer Shirley Regeneration Board quit after saying that money that should have been spent in their area is being diverted to projects elsewhere.

Now they have formed The Outer Shirley Community Representatives Forum so they can keep an eye on how remaining regeneration cash is spent.

Members of the forum will be attending and overseeing the Southampton Regeneration Executive meeting scheduled to take place today at the Sir James Matthews Building in the city centre.

Former Outer Shirley Regen-eration Board member Will Rosie said: "The reason we have set it up is to ensure that the outer Shirley community have a voice regarding issues that affect them and we will be able to support them in that."

Last week, they said that their community could lose £87,000 of ring-fenced funding to developments at Weston Shore - because the money could not be spent in time.

The cash, from the South East of England Development Agency, had been set aside for projects in the Shirley area. At a meeting of the Outer Shirley board, community representatives said using the cash elsewhere was "the straw that broke the camel's back".

The project hit further setbacks after the council "programme team" failed to attend the meeting, blaming "communication problems" between the council and the board's representatives.

The representatives accused the council of overlooking vital projects such as improving facilities for Brendan Football Club and a planned community garden project.

The decision on how the money is spent now falls to the Southampton Regeneration Executive, a group which the board dubbed "non-local, non-elected council-funded agency representatives."