A DEVELOPMENT charity with close ties to Waltham Forest Council is in financial difficulties, the Guardian understands.

O-Regen owns a number of key community facilities and provides resources for grassroots initiatives.

Details of the exact problems have yet to be revealed, but it is believed a number of community groups are still waiting to receive vital grants from the organisation.

Clive Morton, the council officer in charge of culture and leisure, is said to have been brought in to handle the crisis.

O-Regen is registered as a charity under the name Orient Regeneration.

Accounts submitted to the Charity Commission in January for the previous financial year reveal it spent £1.875 million while receiving a income of £1.3 million.

O-Regen runs the Epicentre and Click Centre in Leytonstone, the Score centre in Leyton and a training college in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow.

It employs 31 full-time staff and began operating in 1998.