Youth service investment urged for deprived areas

Oxfordshire County Council will be awarded between £250,000 and £750,000

Politicians have urged a council to invest in youth services across the most deprived parts of a county.

Oxfordshire is one of the areas chosen for a government pilot scheme that will see £8m invested in supporting 12 local councils to provide more services and activities outside school.

Labour MPs Anneliese Dodds and Sean Woodcock, who represent Oxford East and Banbury respectively, wrote to Oxfordshire County Council leader Liz Leffman asking that their constituents "do not miss out on this opportunity".

A spokesperson for the council said the specific areas of focus would be confirmed in September.

The local authority will be awarded between £250,000 and £750,000 to deliver the scheme, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In their letter, the MPs said: "We represent seven of the 10 wards with the highest levels of deprivation in Oxfordshire.

"These are exactly the kind of areas this investment is designed to help, and we ask that any plan Oxfordshire County Council proposals include these wards."

The funding is from the government's Local Youth Transformation Pilot, which is an £88 million investment in supporting youth clubs and schools in England and Wales to offer more after-school activities.

Labour Oxford City Councillor Linda Smith, who represents Blackbird Leys, said youth services in the county had been run as a "skeleton service" and that this new funding has "never been more needed".

Independent Oxford Alliance councillor David Henwood, who represents Rose Hill and Littlemore, said it helped "manage anti-social behaviour and we see lots of value in doing that".

A county council spokesperson said the scheme would build on the work of the new adolescence and prevention service within the children's social care team.

"These areas include consideration of the impact of rurality on young people, young people's voice and participation, partnership collaboration and workforce development," they added.

"We now wait to hear from The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to agree the specific areas of focus and that this will be confirmed in September."