EXETER councillors fear the city's youth centres could be left empty and boarded up for months.
At its latest meeting, members of the Exeter Board accused the county council of 'mis-management' regarding the future of Exeter's youth centres because they fear there could be a significant gap between the closure of the old service and the beginning of the new.
However, the county council has defended its handling of the changes saying that a gap between the withdrawal of council youth workers and the take-up by voluntary groups is likely because the transfer of leases or buildings simply takes time.
And a spokesman for the county council added: "The council has made temporary funding available to community groups, and the Exeter Board has some funding and advice too, that can help ensure a sustainable solution for Exeter's young people as soon as possible."
By the end of October Devon will have lost 140 youth service staff, with just 55 remaining for the whole county.
The council spokesman added: "We plan to retain the 100 Club as our Exeter hub from which our professional youth workers will deliver a combination of targeted support to vulnerable young people via schools and in communities alongside social work teams, as well as open access sessions from the hub for all young people.
"Staff will also provide outreach support to other local groups in the city who have expressed interest in providing youth activities from the Council's three other youth centres. Discussions with those groups are going well."
The county council says that it expects the Exeter hub to be running by November.
However members of the Board say they are concerned as to what will happen to the other youth centres which have been run by the county council –Westside in Cowick, the Knight Club in Beacon Heath and the Phoenix Club in Wonford.
While it is hoped that they will be taken over by alternative providers members of the Board expressed fears about the possibility of the youth centres being empty and boarded up for months, with local young people not being provided for and the buildings being vulnerable to vandalism
Rachel Sutton, deputy leader of the city council and deputy chairman of the Board, said: "This is a mess, a complete and utter shambles".
Jill Owen, county councillor for St David's and St James' said: "This is unacceptable, one of the worst moments I've known in my long service as a councillor.
"There has been a basic failure to get a grip on the situation by those responsible in Tory-run Devon County Council."
Renewed efforts are now underway to make the necessary arrangements for transfer of the centres to alternative providers and to obtain sufficient funding and Andy Hannan , county councillor for Priory and St Leonard's has asked for a report to the full county council meeting on October 2 from Cabinet member Cllr James McInnes on the progress made in securing the future provision of youth services in Exeter.
