A YOUTH hub providing vital outreach support and a meeting place for young people in Okehampton has been safeguarded after the county council voted to keep funding its youth service for the next five years.

The news has been welcomed in Okehampton, where Room 13 is one of only eight ‘youth hubs’ still funded by the local authority in the county.

Town councillor Greta Button, who works as parent support advisor at Okehampton Primary School, said: ‘I think this is fantastic news that young people haven’t been overlooked as they so often are.

‘It is a real relief that the young people will have something good for them, particularly at a time when there is so little else on offer.

‘I know Room 13 has their youth sessions but they also do mentoring at Okehampton College. We have just been transitioning the Year 6s to the college and that is when a lot of the support becomes available.’

She said that a support service for young carers was also supported through the youth hub.

‘It really is a breath of fresh air that hasn’t been cut,’ she added. ‘We live in an area of diminishing services and so have very little to offer local families. Given that we are a growing community, this really is needed.’

The move to retain the youth centres has been heralded as good news more widely in Devon, in a climate when many areas of the country no longer have any local authority-funded youth services at all.

For the full story, pick up today’s edition of the Okehampton Times.