FIVE YEARS after money was assigned for a purpose-built youth facility in Tavistock the town is still wondering why it has not materialised.

There are fears that the £250,000 which was ring-fenced by Devon County Council from the sale of Exeter International Airport for the Devon Youth Service project may no longer be available.

Meanwhile the youth café building in Pixon Lane is deteriorating and Devon Youth Service has ended its partnership with the youth café, cutting hours that youth workers spend there and no longer renting an office space.

Chairman of the youth café Mandy Ewings said sessions run by youth workers on a Friday have now been relocated to the Molly Owen Centre in the town — but no youngsters are attending them, preferring sessions at the youth café in Pixon Lane which now have to be run by volunteers.

Mrs Ewings said no-one wanted to lose the youth café, but they desperately needed some clarity on the situation from Devon County Council as to the future of youth provision in the town.

She said former Devon county councillor for Tavistock, the late Roy Connelly, campaigned and secured the £250,000, and it would be a legacy to him if a new youth café got built.

'We just need some real honesty here — is the money still available or not?

'Are we going to have a new youth café or not?' she said.

'If there is no money the people of Tavistock will get together and do something about it because we do not want to lose this place.'

Mrs Ewings said the youth café, which was a community interest company run by a board of directors, worked brilliantly due to the effort everyone had put in over the last ten years.

'It is somewhere safe for the kids to go, and whenever they have a problem or an issue they go to that corner of the town and get help.

'With the café near the skatepark, it brought together two groups of completely different people and worked.

'The police love the fact that kids are in one place and the youth workers are so good with them.'

She said Devon County Council did not have a statutory duty to provide a youth facility and there was a concern there may be nothing for the youngsters in the future.

Youth worker Vicky Lloyd said the youth café had been built up around young people's needs since 2007, they were used to the building, they loved the space and had ownership of it.

'Music and sports sessions run from here and we serve food the young people ask for.

'For all these reasons there is no call for them to go anywhere else,' said Vicky.

Cllr Debo Sellis said she was meeting with the cabinet member for youth services this week to discuss youth provision in Tavistock.

Cllr Sellis said: 'I do share the concerns and I realise that Tavistock as a market town should consider youth provision very seriously.'

A spokesman for Devon county council said that money from the sale of Exeter International Airport was never allocated to the youth café, rather the application for £250,000 was for youth provision in Tavistock.  

'Reviews of services for young people are underway across Devon to ensure that they're being delivered most effectively in the current economic climate,' he said.

'We want to enable support to communities and young people through joint working arrangements where possible, working with communities and appropriate voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of those services.'

The spokesman added that numbers of young people accessing youth services is about normal for this time of year, when warmer weather and having other things to do always prompts a fall in numbers attending.