THE FUTURE of youth work in Berkeley has been secured by Berkeley Town Council.

At Monday's meeting councillors guaranteed they would cover the £9,600 cost of the Stroud area youth leaders for the coming financial year.

They still have until the end of March to apply for grants towards the cost but, should the applications be unsuccessful or only raise part of the money, the council will pay the outstanding amount.

Before voting, Cllr John Freeland told the council: "I think it would be a crying shame if the project was to stop."

Several councillors agreed that it would be terrible to effectively throw away all the good work that has already been carried out.

However, the figure of money involved caused some councillors to look at the situation from another angle.

Cllr Valerie Watts said: "It is a large amount of money to spend on just one area of the population."

However, chairman Cllr Ralph Pinnell explained that money that had been set aside for other youth related projects in the town could be used for this instead.

Ten thousand pounds has been earmarked for a skatepark, while the same amount is waiting to be put towards a dedicated building for the youth work.

Cllr Pinnell said: "If we don't have the services of the youth leaders we will not need to look for a building because the whole thing will be off."

Despite the warning, debate still raged for several minutes as Cllr Watts and Cllr Ted Holmes continued to question whether it was fair to spend so much on a single group.

But with youth disorder in Berkeley an ongoing problem, most councillors agreed that they had to show their support for the youth project.

Cllr Hortense Oates said: "If we do not get the youth leaders, will it make the disorder worse? Yes it will."

However, most councillors were prepared to earmark the £9,600 for the youth leaders, especially as there was every chance the figure could be raised in grants by the time payment was required.

Councillors voted by a majority of six to two with one abstention to provide the money for that purpose.

The cash will pay for the services of two youth leaders for two nights a week as well as their preparation time.