Why the Youth Service must be spared the Spending Cuts (From The Northern Echo)

Why the Youth Service must be spared the Spending Cuts

10:09am Thursday 18th November 2010

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In late October 2010, Chancellor George Osborne outlined the coalition Government’s plans for tackling the enormous budget deficit in Britain’s economy. Essentially, the Conservative government is cutting public spending and cutting deep, with over £80 billion to be saved over 4 years.

The impact on Darlington? The Borough Council has seen its budget reduced from £107 million to £85 million, meaning services in and around Darlington will be slashed in order to save the required £22 million. The Civic Theatre and the Arts Centre are under threat, whilst other services provided by the council are also preparing for large cuts. One such service is the Youth Service (or the Darlington Early Intervention and Prevention Service, as it is has recently been renamed, presumably at large expense).

Arguments are raging between the political parties as to whether the cuts are coming too fast, and who is to blame for the country’s economic strife. The purpose of this article is not to lay blame at the feet of any party, but appeal to Darlington Borough Council to spare the Youth Service the full force of the spending cut axe.

The Youth Service faces a cut of £1.4 million, nearly 30% of its budget. Undoubtedly, this will lead to some hardworking youth workers, all of whom are dedicated and devoted to helping the young people of Darlington, being made redundant. Not only this, but the service they provide will be decimated, meaning youth clubs won’t be the vibrant, exciting places they normally are. Projects run by the Youth Service, such as the hugely successful rE-view project, will be restricted in terms of what they can achieve and who they can reach, thus depriving young people critical social experience.

Yet it’s not as if young people have already been unaffected by the spending cuts. The much publicised tripling in tuition fees and cut in university places now makes it much more difficult for young people to access Higher Education. Even getting into college is much more difficult as, due to the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance, some perfectly capable but less well off students can’t even afford the costs to get them into Further Education. Now, having hacked at young people’s education, they’re social lives are in the line of the fire. Attending youth clubs, or new facilities like The Box, soon to open in the Town Centre, is the only social interaction some young people get. If these areas are savaged as proposed, where else can the young people of Darlington go?

It’s all very well, you might say, to rant on about preserving the Youth Service, but just exactly why is the Service so important? After all, some older people will say that the Youth Service barely has any impact on their lives. But it does. Let’s look at the benefits the Youth Service brings to society. Firstly, the service provides activities for young people to do, giving young people something constructive to do and keeping them off the streets. This reduces the likelihood of them getting into trouble or engaging in criminal acts. In response to the question posed at the end of the last paragraph, the street corners are where the young people will go if they can’t go to youth clubs.

Also, these projects young people get involved can be pivotal to their future career aspirations. Take the rE-view project for example. Several former members of the project are now at university, with rE-view playing a central part in their successful application. Projects like rE-view not only look fantastic on CV’s, but also provide young people with bundles of confidence and sack loads of experience in their chosen profession. I have been a writer for rE-view for nearly 4 years now, and during this time, my writing skills have improved dramatically, giving me confidence that I can make a successful career out of journalism. Over the summer, I approached an organisation for work experience, something I would have been too shy and too nervous about doing had I not been involved in rE-view. But perhaps the most infuriating thing about the cuts from a young person’s perspective is that they are grossly unfair, with certain social groups shouldering the burden more than others. The council have ensured that their expenses are exempt from the cuts, whilst many suspect that council leader John Williams will walk away with a nice, large pension pay off when he steps down from his position next May. Meanwhile, the over 65’s have got away from the cuts scot free. The largest impact of the cuts on them? They can’t get the bus before 9:30 in the morning otherwise they have to pay. This just makes of mockery of David Cameron and George Osborne’s rhetoric of “We’re all in this together.”

Young people fully accept that the cuts are needed and that they are coming. There is nothing we can do to stop the government cutting at the rate they wish, and it is the government who will carry the can if everything falls flat on its face. Yet many young people believe the cuts aren’t being fairly distributed. For instance, it would be fairer if the over 65’s paid a flat, reduced fare on the buses of around 30p. Implementing this until the worst of the cuts are over would provide income to the council, thus allowing some services and facilities to function far more effectively and efficiently than if they are subjected to these savage proposals the council has forwarded.

The Youth Service quite simply must be preserved, or at least not forced to have such a draconian budget reduction. Attack the services which help young people and the fabric of Darlington will be fundamentally and possibly irreparably damaged. Not only that, but young people are the future of the town and the country. Attack them now, and you are attacking the town and the country’s future.

By Chris Sykes

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