A WITNEY youth centre could soon be forced to axe most of its work if emergency funding is not found.

Base 33, in High Street, has been hit by more than a 50 per cent drop in public donations in the past year, threatening 75 per cent of its work.

Support for teenage mothers, health education for youngsters, schemes to get young people back into work and drop-in services are all under threat.

Anti-social behaviour in the town could rise as a result, it is warned, and there are fears the centre could close completely if key funding is cut.

The centre needs £7,500 of public donations to get through the next month, and £30,000 before April 2012.

In the centre’s last financial year, it received about £34,000 in public donations. So far this financial year it has received less than £10,000.

Manager Claire Dowan said: “The consequences are huge. Young people are going to have nowhere to go to get this kind of support and it is going to compound the problems they are experiencing.”

Projects to help Henry Box School youngsters find work and another, funded by West Oxfordshire District Council, to send youth workers into the community will continue.

But Mrs Dowan warned if existing funding channels ceased by the end of the financial year in September, the centre could be forced to close.

Base 33 trustee, the Rev Jason Boyd, of Witney Congregational Church, said: “Antisocial behaviour will increase if Base 33 closes.”

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