A COMMUNITY raising £80,000 to run its own “Big Society” youth club fears it will be held up by County Hall’s redundancy timetable.

Wolvercote Youth Club’s funding will cease this September, a victim of Oxfordshire County Council cuts.

The club’s trustees want to go it alone and have made a bid for some of the £600,000 “Big Society” cash offered to County Hall.

But the new centre will need to recruit experienced staff and have them in place by September 1 to ensure a seamless transition of services.

However, the obvious candidates – council youth workers facing redundancy – won’t know if they have a job within the new council “youth hubs” until later that month.

This week, Wolvercote councillor Jean Fooks made a plea for timetables to be reconciled and said, with council funding ending at 22 other youth centres across the county, Wolvercote was unlikely to be an isolated case.

“The problem is for communities taking over services and who need staff in place for September 1,” she said.

“But if staff currently employed by the council don’t know if they have a job, will they or won't they consider a job with [new] youth centres?

“How can the county council assist those communities to prepare for their new responsibilities in a timely manner?”

But she was told the county was doing everything it could.

The cabinet member for young people, Councillor Louise Chapman, said: “The appointments for staff in the new hubs are progressing well and the majority of what’s needed will be in place for September.

She said work would continue “as long as necessary” to see no opportunities were lost.

Under council plans, funding has been cut to 22 youth centres across the county. Community groups and schools are in the process of bidding to take over at these locations.

Seven new council-run hubs will be created – at Banbury, Bicester, Didcot, Abingdon, Witney, East Oxford and a further location in Oxford – along with six satellite centres, in Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill, Barton, Riverside, Berinsfield and Kidlington.