BRADFORD'S youth service buildings, which could soon feel the squeeze of budget cuts, have a maintenance backlog of over £2.25 million, a new report has revealed.

And one of the buildings has been described as "beyond repair."

These are some of the findings of a review into the council's youth service buildings, which began last year.

Of 20 such buildings across the district, six have been identified as being "relatively straightforward" for the council to dispose of, although the head of children's services said community groups would be invited to take over the running of any buildings the council stops using.

The review looked into how much money needs to be spent on the buildings to bring them up to standard, and in total that figure is £2.256m.

Most in need of repair is Haworth Youth Centre, which has a backlog maintenance cost of £509,118, needed to repair and update its windows, boiler, plumbing and wiring. The report says: "The building is considered to be in a poor state and beyond reasonable repair. The first floor of property is unsafe / unusable."

Local scout groups use the building two nights a week, but it is also used by numerous community groups.

After that, the centre with the biggest maintenance backlog is the TFD Centre in Holme Wood - its backlog will cost £314,196 to fix up.

The six centres that the council believes it could dispose of most easily are Buttershaw Youth Centre, Parkwood Centre for Young People in Keighley, Canterbury Youth Centre, Ravenscliffe Youth Centre, Duke of Edinburgh's Award Centre in Undercliffe, and Toller Youth Cafe.

Over 200 young people have signed a petition calling for the council to keep the Ravenscliffe facility, used by almost 300 people.

The buildings review will go before the council's Children's Services Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, and the future of the buildings discussed at a future executive meeting.

Cllr Ralph Berry, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said: "Cuts in government funding mean that between now and 2020 the money for council services is forecast to reduce by £130m, that’s nearly a third. Our focus is on making savings in a way that minimises the impact on frontline services and makes better use of the buildings we have.

"The review has involved wide ranging consultation with young people, local councillors and other stakeholders. The review’s proposals will set out a district wide plan for how we use these buildings in a sustainable way in the future, but our emphasis needs to be on preserving services for young people.

"Should we need to stop using certain buildings, it is our intention to work with community groups to explore ways of developing them for community use.”

Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative councillor for Worth Valley, has been calling for the council to do more to improve the Haworth centre. She said: "It is used by a lot of groups, and there are very few other facilities for young people in Haworth.

"It has been completely neglected by the council in recent years. I really hope they keep it open, or give the community time to come up with a way to take it on."

The committee meets in City Hall at 4.30pm on Tuesday.

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