At a vote in full council, South Glos Councillors came to cross-party agreement to protect the current funding arrangements for youth services.

A Conservative party motion had been put forward to rip up the contract signed with Yate Town Council. If this had happened, Yate would have been left scrambling for funds.

Claire Young (Liberal Democrat, Westerleigh) said: “The basis of the Conservative figures was simply wrong. The figures for Yate include all the costs of the building – lighting, heating, maintenance, everything. For all our other youth centres, these are funded from a separate budget.”

Fortunately, a cross party agreement was reached to protect the funding streams for the next three years. This means the council will only withdraw from funding the Yate Youth Cafe in line with their past promises. It also means the Positive Activities Funds will continue to be distributed to organisations for the same time.

Liberal Democrat leader Ruth Davis said: “This is a fair deal. There are lots of funding anomalies we need to sort out, and this gives us the time to do it. If we’d just ripped up the contract with Yate, why would any organisation have trusted us in future? Withdrawing in line with our contract is the right thing to do, and means we can seek to have a fair look at all youth service provision across the board.”

Liberal Democrat Mike Drew added: “Yate Town Council spends a huge amount on youth provision – over £200,000 – and that should be recognised. Some of the services currently in place are provided by South Glos – because we purchase them, to serve our young people. I hope that South Glos recognises the work we do in Yate.”

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