Campaigners hit streets over Staffordshire cuts
Banner-waving campaigners hit the streets to protest against proposed cuts to youth services in Staffordshire that could see clubs close to save millions of pounds.
Members of Youth Against Service Cuts held the rally in Stafford town centre and declared: "This is not ping pong in a church hall. This mentors young people through adolescence towards adulthood."
Around 400 youth workers will lose their jobs if Staffordshire County Council's proposals to stop running youth clubs goes ahead as part of massive £102 million budget cuts. Finance boss Ian Parry has defended the decision to approve the cuts, insisting the moves are not just a case of 'simply cutting or closing'.
But campaigners fear that crime will rise if youth services are scaled down. They said that the moves would be the latest blow for the town following the downgrading of Stafford Hospital and Staffordshire University's decision to move out.
Lesley Harrison, library manager at Hednesford, took part in the rally on Saturday.
The 59-year-old, from Huntington Terrace Road, Cannock, warned: "Young people will move away and Staffordshire will become a place for old people. The closure of maternity and paediatric services at Stafford Hospital already means that young families are not going to want to live here.
"They are also trying to close the Stafford campus of Staffordshire University, forcing students to go to Stoke.
"The cutting of youth services across the county is another step in that direction."
Meanwhile Farran Glaze, 17, from Tudor Close, Cheslyn Hay, said the service helps to prevent anti-social behaviour.
Finance bosses estimate that £2.8m will be saved next year and £4.5m the following year if the current proposals are given the go-ahead. The council provides 38 youth centres across Staffordshire, but bosses say they want to move away from a traditional youth service open to all and 'target' the youngsters most in need.
