A CHARITY youth club has been closed due to a lack of funding after serving a community for decades.

Consett YMCA chief executive Billy Robson said the five night-a-week facility for young people closed on Monday with ‘immediate effect’.

The youth club, which catered for young people aged eight to 25, was previously funded by a £26,000 grant from Durham County Council and had six youth workers paid for by the authority.

Mr Robson said: “We cannot afford it. We have tried to get funding from elsewhere but there is nothing available.

“We have been doing it for nothing for the last ten months, in fact, it has been costing us money.

“I am very worried for our young people. It is a bad state of affairs.”

Youth workers have been discussing a range of social issues including drug and alcohol misuse, pregnancy and healthy eating, as well as doing arts and crafts, talking about education opportunities, hosting movie nights and enabling members to try outdoor activities.

Youth club manager Paul Hillary said: “There is going to be hell on.”

Durham County Councillor Alex Watson, chairman of Consett YMCA, said he was concerned the closure of the youth club could lead to a rise in anti-social behaviour from young people in the town centre as it provided a positive outlet for their energy.

Cllr Watson said: “It is going to have a serious effect on the youth in this area.

“We need full time paid employees.

“The county has got to get a hold of situation and appreciate the seriousness of the situation it is placing society in.

“It will put pressure on the police force, on the emergency services and kids will get more involved in problems on the streets.”

In March, Leadgate Youth Centre, which opened in 1981, and was based in Eden Miners’ Hall on Watling Street, closed after funding was removed by Durham County Council.

Carole Payne, Durham County Council’s head of early help, assessment and safeguarding, said the authority had been forced to make difficult decisions following substantial cuts in Government funding.

She said: “We have now adopted a targeted approach to youth services which will save £1million by prioritising funding and resources to those areas which have the greatest need.”