New youth clubs are expected to spring up across the county thanks to a £300,000 National Lottery boost for youngsters in isolated communities.

One of the county’s oldest youth organisations, Oxfordshire Association of Young People (OAYP), has received £296,646 to set up seven weekly clubs a year over the next three years.

And if more villages express an interest, even more clubs could be set up when the project starts in February 2012.

The investment comes after Oxfordshire County Council ended funding for youth work in all but the county’s largest population areas.

OAYP county director Paul Lawrence said the money would be used to train and recruit volunteers.

He said: “When we were talking to young people about this project the main thing they wanted was somewhere to go and something to do.

“What we are about is trying to build communities so the young and old mix better.”

Thirty-two parish councils responded to an OAYP consultation about the project earlier this year, but Mr Lawrence said other communities could also get involved.

It is hoped youth clubs will be created like one already set up in the village of Shipton-under-Wychwood with OAYP’s help.

Mr Lawrence said: “As an organisation we have been supporting rural voluntary-based youth clubs for 64 years. That is what we do.

“In terms of club development, in the past we have been more reactive, and this is about us being a lot more proactive. At a time when the county council is ending support for those communities, we are the natural people to take this up.”

Mr Lawrence said the Big Lottery Fund cash would pay for a project coordinator, a training and volunteer officer and a support worker.

In Cholsey, the Thursday night youth club will re-launch on October 13 thanks to OAYP support, having closed five years ago for lack of volunteers.

Chairman Angela Rowlands said: “Having a youth club helps the village as well as the young people. We noticed that when the youth club was closed, antisocial behaviour went up. There were kids hanging around on the street.”

The county council cut its youth work funding by a third, asking volunteers to take on 21 of its youth clubs, while restructuring its work around seven early intervention hubs to help the most disadvantaged youngsters.

Places that have applied for some of the Lottery cash include: aston, Bodicote, Burford, Carterton, Charlgrove, Charlbury, Cholsey, Crowmarsh, Duns Tew, The Hanneys, Garsington, Hook Norton, Horspath, Kennington, Launton, Little Milton, Marcham, North Leigh, Old Marston, Rollright, Sandford on Thames, Shrivenham, Somerton, Sonning Common, Standlake, Steventon, Tiddington with Albury, Uffington, Wheatley, Woodstock, Wootton.