'Cinderella' of town services (From Warrington Guardian)

'Cinderella' of town services

LEADER of the Conservative group in Warrington, Clr Keith Bland, has branded Warrington's spending on youth services as 'ridiculous'.

His comments came after the GMB union published spending figures for all north west authorities on youth services.

Warrington spent the least of all 21 north west councils, with only £55.08 being spent per head on youth services in the town in 2003/04.

Topping the table was Liverpool which spent £144.67, and fellow unitary authority Blackburn with Darwen spent £100.40 per head over the same period.

Clr Keith Bland said: "The figures speak for themselves really. I've always said that if there's going to be any cuts made, they always seem to be made in youth services. It's the Cinderella of all the services.

"That is ridiculous and it's something that we've got to try to address. .

"Clearly youth services need to be a bigger priority, particularly as we've got so many problems around youth nuisance at the moment."

The amounts have been calculated from the figures councils sent to the Audit Commission for 2003/04.

The final figure is reached by dividing the total amount spent on youth service in the authority by the number of young people aged from 13-19 years.

The average spend per head on the youth service in England in 2003/04 was £91.65.

Clr Mike Hannon, executive member for community, said: "We have been doing a good job, but we are not combining it with a multi agency approach. I am hoping that in the new structure, to be introduced in the next council year, we will have a dedicated teams with resources and teeth in order to build better community services for all."