CHILDREN and young people in Littlemore have celebrated the opening of a new youth club.

Under Oxfordshire County Council savings plans, funding to all youth centres across the county has been cut from this month.

Instead, seven new council-run early intervention ‘hubs’ are being created, along with six satellite centres.

The area is already home to one of the new ‘hubs’, which are designed to work with children and young people who are regularly excluded from school, and are vulnerable or disadvantaged.

The Littlemore hub opened at the Oxford Academy on September 1.

But councillors and parents were keen to make sure children who do not have ‘complex needs’ were not left with nothing to do.

The new youth club opened at Littlemore Village Hall, in Railway Lane, Gill Sanders, Oxford city councillor for Littlemore, said they had worked hard to get several thousand pounds worth of funding to ensure a youth worker can supervise children for a few hours every Monday over the next year.

She said they had got £4,600 from the Big Society Fund that the county council is administering, and she and fellow Littlemore councilllor John Tanner had given £2,000 from money they had been allocated to spend in the ward.

She added: “We both think that there can be no better use of our money than providing desperately needed facilities in Littlemore where there is literally nothing else on offer at the moment for youngsters.”

The group is also planning fundraising activities throughout the year to ensure the future of the club after the next 12 months.

The sessions will run between 7pm and 9pm every Monday and young people will be able to choose what activities they take part in each week.

They are being run by the Positive Futures team from Oxford City Council, a scheme which coaches young people in sports and other activities. Adam French, Positive Futures co-ordinator, said: “The Littlemore Youth Club aims to bring youngsters together in the estate and provide them with activities which they are interested in.”

He added: “It means a lot to the young people to be able to take part in these type of activities and be able to meet up with their friends outside school.

“The event on Monday night was successful and we had approximately 11 young people attend.”