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If spending has increased, where has all the money gone?
• THOSE of us who run youth service projects care little which party those giving the grants represent. We are getting increasingly tired of the politicising of the argument about which administration has done what. This does not at all answer the problems of some large and successful youth service programmes which have faced dramatic cuts.
It does not matter whether the funds come from Labour, Lib Dem or other administrations. What matters is being funded sufficiently to be able to deliver useful services to Camden’s youth and, therefore, the wider community. A situation which for many of us, sadly, is very much not the case.
If Camden is increasing funding to youth programmes then that is to be applauded. However, I would like to know the rationale behind the cuts imposed this year on successful projects like those in Queen’s Crescent (100 per cent cut), Castlehaven (50 per cent cut), Highgate Newtown (100 per cent cut), Jubilee centre (100 per cent cut) and Regent’s Park (34 per cent cut).
These cuts have forced closure of some projects. This hardly seems a way of building upon success. Yet overall the claim is that spending on youth has increased. Where has the money gone, and how has it been distributed? What kind of projects are being supported and how much of the money currently goes to core funding for youth centres?
In the light of a £10million underspend last year, and the acknowledged desperate need for youth centres, how does Camden justify cutting funding to any youth centre? When is it going to reverse this trend? Now is the time for action and not more words.
PETER WATTS
Chairman, Samuel Lithgow Youth Centre
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