Young people demonstrate against cuts to youth facilities at the Town Hall

‘A Summer of trouble’  warning over youth cuts

‘It doesn’t make any sense’, say community leaders as cuts bite

YOUTH leaders who took a deputation to the full council on Monday night  demanded the council must reverse spending plans for youth programmes or face a summer of youth unrest.

Andre Schott, who runs the Fitzrovia Youth In Action project told the meeting how his and other groups had missed out on Town Hall funding handouts without warning.

Backed by around 60 young people who have benefited from the projects under threat, he said: “We are pretty fed up of getting the crumbs left on the table. The Town Hall has cut the funding for events such as the Camden Unity Cup – a key summer event for nearly 1,000 young people, with virtually no notice. This just doesn’t make sense.”

Groups bid for grants from a pot of around £300,000  from the Camden Connexions department. Auditors visited the groups bidding for cash earlier this year and officers used their reports to decide who would get funding – and who would lose out.

Last week the New Journal revealed how a number of groups – including the Coram’s Fields centre – had been told there would be no money for them this summer, leading to a furious response. Coram’s, which was represented at the meeting by manager Sandy Wynne, has lost out to the tune of £35,000.

But youth workers say the audit system was flawed – including allegations that some inspectors went to community centres on the wrong nights. And opposition Labour councillors also said the decisions had not taken into account geographical issues – leaving the south of the borough, which has seen problems with teenage unrest and drug crime, frighteningly short of youth facilities.

Huran Kaji, centre manager of the King’s Cross Brunswick youth centre, who were also unsuccessful in receiving cash for youth workers that would have cost around £100 a week, demanded an investigation after claims the auditors made elementary mistakes.

He said: “They marked us down and we missed out because they said we only work with boys – but we run girls-only sessions too.”

Other losers include the Winchester Project in Swiss Cottage. It had asked for a grant of £80,000 to continue projects they already run – but will now not receive a penny.

Mike Katz, chairman of the management committee, said the centre had run many successful programmes including sports teams and citizenship building programmes and work with disadvantaged groups of Somali teenagers.

He said: “We have been helping people who had been falling into bad ways. The projects we run are so important.”

Lib Dem councillor and executive member for children John Bryant has said he would meet with the groups who lost out. He said: “I am confident the selection process was robust and all the bids were assessed against a rigorous set of criteria.  But at the same time we realise some groups missed out.”