BURNHAM-on-Sea’s only youth club is set to close down after crucial funding was axed by the town council.

Zone Youth Club, based at the Bay Centre and managed by the Somerset Rural Youth Partnership (SRYP), will shut its doors for the final time in February after falling numbers of members resulted in Burnham and Highbridge Town Council (BHTC) withdrawing its funding.

An agreement was reached that the town council would pay to keep the service, via a grant from Somerset County Council, for half the year and see if the numbers increased.

However, a report published by BHTC showed even though the number of youngsters using the service had increased slightly, costs were set to double to £10,800 per year, so the council decided to pull out.

Denise Emery, BHTC clerk, said: “The town council agreed to fund the club until the February break to enable parents time to set up a management committee and operate the youth club through the committee.

“They have had support from Somerset County Council youth department and we are talking to them about support for funding, and other fund sources that may be available to them. There has been some work going on in the background that is still on-going and no specific conclusion to yet.

“However, what the Zone youth club has done is made us look at youth provision overall, set levels of service we require for best value which hopefully will result in a provision more in touch with the needs of the area and our young residents.”

Talks between the town council, SCC and a local church organisation are ongoing to try and find more revenue for the service, but have so far proved fruitless.

SRYP has backed the move but announced they will no longer run the youth club after February as the town council can’t afford to pay for the service they are offering.

Steve Baker, programme manager at SRYP, said: “Since the beginning of 2016 we have struggled for members and there has been a spike in membership in the last three months but the town council could no longer afford to fund the project so have been looking at alternative ways to keep the club going.

“Parents really value the service as do the young people that use it because generally young people need youth services and feedback from the people who have been using the service has been positive. “We will no longer be running the service beyond February but are hopeful the town council will find a way to keep the group going. It will be sad to see the youth club go if funding cannot be found.”

Kirstie Brown, Youth and Community Officer at Somerset County Council Youth Department said: “I am keen to see some provision for Youth Zone provided it meets the standard set in the service level agreement Burnham and Highbridge Town Council had SRYP.”