WILTSHIRE’S youth service’s future was given a boost after Wiltshire Council accepted a proposal to invest an additional £250,000 by Wiltshire’s Lib Dems.
In the last issue of the Melksham News we explained that youth services were to be cut across the county including Melksham in a bid to save £500,000. It meant youth clubs faced closure and youth workers faced possible redundancy.
The extra money invested will avoid the worst of the cuts originally proposed in the Conservative budget, claim Wiltshire’s Lib Dems. Cllr Jon Hubbard, leader of Wiltshire’s Lib Dems, hailed this as a great success as it maintained open access youth services in Wiltshire.
One of the savings proposed by the Lib Dems was to cut £100,000 that was being used to send paperwork to councillors with the Lib Dems calling it a “waste”.
The extra money, though, will not save the Canberra Youth Centre in Melksham which is set to close with youth facilities being run from the new Melksham campus when it opens in summer 2016.
Cllr Jon Hubbard said, “This is what happens when we have grown up politics. I am delighted we have been able to convince the administration on supporting young people over spending money on councillors. There are many aspects of the administration’s budget that I find challenging but I am delighted that we have been able to effect this change.
“Recently in Wiltshire we have seen some independent councillors choosing to concentrate on headlines as opposed to hard work by scoring cheap political points attacking council staff. The Liberal Democrats believe it is hard work that counts, and we will continue to strive wherever possible to influence the Conservative administration to deliver better services for the people of Wiltshire. Opposition politics is not always about attack.”
