THE youth service in Wiltshire hangs by a thread.

Wiltshire Council keep hacking away at the number of youth officers in the county and now, having had 144 two years ago, we are left with just five.

Five ‘locality youth facilitators’ will now oversee youth services for the entire county, delegating resources to volunteer and community groups.

The youth service is not however about organising a game of football in the local park or a dance class once a week, it is about identifying young people who need help.

When 144 people had that job some young people were still falling through the cracks, so heaven knows what result this cut will have.

Younger generations are already being saddled with thousands of pounds worth of student debt – the kind of debt the generation that forced it onto them never had, on account of their university education being free.

Now that same generation are having their youth service taken away from under their feet.

The plans have been described as a “scandal” by one Wiltshire Council member and many have joined in labelled it as such.

Local government budget cuts are squeezing what remains of this county’s youth service to the point of no return – and there seems to be no letting up.