Teenagers and children in Idle face the closure of their youth clubs because of budget cuts - and leaders are now appealing to Home Secretary Jack Straw to intervene.

Staff at City Bradford YMCA say the clubs are among pioneering projects planned and designed to meet national goals on steering youngsters away from crime.

But Bradford Council Community Development Committee denied them the cash. Although the projects met funding criteria, there were not enough resources, it said.

Eileen Murgatroyd, chief executive of the YMCA in Bradford, said: "We try to be positive and we're not throwing in the towel. If we concentrate on young people and do preventative work so they don't end up in care or in custody, that's so worthwhile. These are supposed to be a national priority. It costs £27,000 a year to keep a youngster in custody."

She pledged to contact Mr Straw because the plans put together by the YMCA in Bradford offered hope of nipping youth crime in the bud and supporting families to help them to deal with troublesome youngsters.

The youth clubs under threat at Idle YMCA run for various age groups on Monday to Thursday nights, and could shut in April. Some attract as many as 60 youngsters, keeping them off the streets and offering worthwhile activities. Mrs Murgatroyd said the out-of-school club run by the centre would continue its work because some funding came in from parents.

City Bradford YMCA, an independent charity which runs nine projects on four sites throughout the city, had asked Bradford Council: for £36,000 for the youth work at Idle YMCA; £32,000 for the 'Y's Parent scheme, involving parents of youngsters who have received police cautions, parents of youngsters in custody, and teenager parents; and £24,000 for a women's development worker based at the McMillan YMCA centre in Little Horton, the second most deprived ward in the country.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said other YMCA projects in the city had received a more than £50,000 in this year's round of grants. "Unfortunately we are unable to fund these extra projects as well."

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