Youth services facing drastic cuts in Littlehampton

Mike Northeast, town and Arun councillor and chairman of the Keystone Centre’s management committee, has slammed the proposals and warned they could have a devastating effect in the town’s Ham and Wick wards, the two most deprived wards in West Sussex.

Ham ward also 46.8 per cent of children officially living in poverty, the highest level in West Sussex, while in River ward the rate is 36.3 per cent.

Mr Northeast has written a letter opposing the reductions in youth services in Littlehampton, to county council cabinet member for children and families Peter Evans, who will make his final decision later this month on further county-wide cuts of £2m to the youth service, following earlier cuts of a similar amount.

In future, only the Flintstone Centre would hold sessions provided by the county council, although the authority is encouraging churches and other community groups to step into the breach when it withdraws its provision.

“This is really, really worrying. This is an area which has the worst levels in deprivation, yet they are taking away even the measly two hours a week they currently provide at the Keystone Centre.

“The majority of kids in the area are good, decent kids, but in future they will be within their rights to say ‘There’s nothing for us to do’, because there won’t be.”

The county council’s children and young people’s services select committee met on Friday to discuss the proposed budget cuts.

Richard Burrett, chairman of the committee, said “We spent a considerable amount of time asking detailed questions about the proposals and heard from representatives from the Youth Cabinet, trade unions and the voluntary sector.

“Members of the committee expressed concerns about the impact of the proposals on young people and a group of members has been set up to examine the impact in more detail over the coming months.

“In the meeting we explored a range of alternative ideas for funding the service, but the committee accepted that none were likely to be sustainable.

“The committee was in favour of the proposal to extend the period over which the budget is reduced, to allow for more work with the voluntary and community sector, so that they are better able to take over local provision of services where appropriate.”