Too great a burden

For over 30 years I have been involved, as a volunteer, in supporting youth provision for young people in the Wood Farm and Lye Valley areas of Oxford.

The youth service in the county has never been well resourced and the proposed cuts will result in many areas having none or very limited provision in the future.

In the case of Wood Farm and Lye Valley, the loss of our county-funded youth work post will have the following consequences: l The closure of four of the weekly youth club sessions l Stopping outreach work with young people in the local community and trips away from the centre l Stopping joint work with schools, the police, children’s centre and street wardens.

Currently more than 100 young people use the centre on a weekly basis.

The centre was established in 2002, following ten years of lobbying and fund raising by local residents and voluntary groups.

The Wood Farm centre is an example of the “Big Society” in operation, but it has only worked because of the successful partnership we have developed with the Youth Service. The loss of county council support will place too great a burden on local groups and residents.

To provide a like-for-like replacement for the youth work post would require raising £30,000 a year.

To expect volunteers to run the centre without professional support — which we have tried in the past — would reduce provision to one two-hour session a week and would undermine the long-term engagement with young people. There are limits to community self-help.

Richard Bryant, Trustee, Wood Farm Youth Centre, Oxford