David Wright, chief executive of the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services, said he had seen examples across England of parish councils “filling the gap in the work that local authorities were previously doing”.
His comments came after 11 parish councils in West Sussex announced they have formed clusters to deliver hyper-local youth services.
Youth provision has been significantly hit by budget cuts in the area, after West Sussex County Council announced it would remove at least £4m from its youth services budget in 2011.
Each of the five clusters will hire full-time and part-time community youth workers to deliver provision from local schools, churches or businesses.
The projects are being funded by the parish councils to the total of £150,000, derived from a combination of revenue they collect via council tax and grant funding from local housing associations and the Rotary Club.
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