Surrey County Council still proposes shutting three clubs, and one has already closed. But the council is exploring alternatives for the others, including renting facilities to community groups, said Surrey's executive member for schools, children and community services, Andrew Crisp. A final decision will be made in the autumn.
"The changes have come because a lot of different ideas have emerged and it has become clear that we needed to give communities time to come up with proper plans where they were proposing taking over the centres," said Crisp. The council intends to save money by raising charges made by the centres to outside groups such as nurseries and sports clubs.
Crisp said he could not say if redundancies would result from the closure of clubs, but he hoped "youth workers in the clubs could be found other jobs within the youth service".
Young people across Surrey protested against the cuts. Emily Scott, 16, started a petition to save Bookham Youth Centre, while young people from Frimley Green Youth Centre created a web site (www.frimley-green-youth.co.uk/campaign) with an online petition. The clubs still set to close are in Merstham, Haslemere and Thameside in Staines, while Byfleet Youth Centre has already closed. In Merstham and Haslemere the council intends to develop alternative partnerships with other providers, while in Thameside it intends to "reinvest in other facilities".
See Big interview, p11.
