Councillor hits out at youth service at meeting (From Haringey Independent)

Councillor hits out at Haringey Borough Council's youth service at meeting

11:23pm Monday 18th March 2013 in News By Bruce Thain

An opposition councillor has attacked the council over youth services, saying it needs to listen to young people.

The comments came at a meeting of Haringey Borough Council during a debate on developing youth engagement.

Lib Dem councillor Katherine Reece made her comments in reference to a community written report into youth services in the borough, called Misspent Youth, which was released last week.

She said: “Haringey Labour’s track record on youth strategy is open to attack.

“Youth services should be a top priority for Haringey, especially with the levels of deprivation and the riots.”

She called the Misspent Youth report ‘damning’ and said it raised a number of questions about the services.

The report claims the current youth service budget is £2.1m, compared to £1.8m in 2010, despite the council announcing a cut to services of 75 per cent in 2011.

Councillor Reece called for there to be a full report into the youth service budget and transparency about the use of the Bruce Grove Youth Centre in Tottenham.

Last week councillor Goldberg disputed the figures in the report and said there was a cut in 2010 and it was not possible to make a like for like comparison of the two budgets.