Battling 12-year-old Bronwyn fights youth centre closure threat (From Witney Gazette)

Battling 12-year-old Bronwyn fights youth centre closure threat

12:02pm Wednesday 30th December 2009

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A SCHOOLGIRL is leading the fight to make sure Carterton’s only youth club stays open in the face of proposed council cuts.

Bronwyn Peatman, 12, the chairman of the town’s youth council, spoke with other members at this month’s Carterton Parish Council meeting.

Oxfordshire County Council plans to cut youth support by more than half, from £3.7m to £1.4m, by 2013, as it attempts to make £31m in efficiency savings over the next five years.

The council admits every youth centre in the county will be affected.

But Bronwyn, a pupil at Carterton Community College, says the Allandale Youth Centre, in Burford Road, should be saved.

Bronwyn, of Arkell Gardens, Carterton, said: “It keeps people off the streets and it makes sure there is a warm place to go.

“A lot of the members of our youth council attend the youth centre and we all decided that we would try to keep it from closing down.”

Bronwyn, who has been chairman of the youth council since September, said the centre also provided a place of stability for young people at Brize Norton RAF base.

The town council says it will pass on the youth council’s concerns.

Parish recreation committee chairman Adrian Coomber said: “A town of 15,000 people has one youth centre.

“We can’t lose our only youth centre – the idea that it’s possible is quite terrifying.”

County council spokes-man Owen Morton, said: “The Government is more than £800bn in debt and will be looking for ways to reduce this deficit.

“Two-thirds of local government funding comes from Government grants and local authorities are highly likely to be firmly in line for reductions in funding over coming years.

“Most councils are discussing ways of making savings.

“No decisions have been taken, nor will they be taken until February, when the council’s budget is set.”

Oxfordshire was ranked 104th out of 118 local authorities for youth service spending in 2007-8 and it is claimed that cuts could put it bottom of the national league table.

witney@oxfordmail.co.uk

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