I WOULD like to say to Chorley Borough Council that closing down youth centres is not the answer to the yobs problem, being open for a short period is a problem.

The youth service itself has a lot to answer for; there is far too much money being wasted in the office of qualified youth workers and this is not their fault.

It's a central office issue with them wanting so many reports all the time on what a worker is doing with their time. This does very little for the youths of any area.

As an ex-volunteer youth worker, I know that all these children want is to use a youth centre, to have somewhere warm and safe to go to and have a game of pool.

There are many issues to be confronted, bullying is only one of them. If a little more money was spent on real time face-to-face youth work, then perhaps bullying and vandalism would soon start to disappear.

It is an insult to the workers who started youth centres many years ago to see the organisation destroyed by ignorance. It is one thing to be qualified on paper, but being able to talk to the youth of today on many subjects is a different matter.

Yes, close the youth clubs, arrest the youths and give them harder sentences at the magistrates' court, but this will not solve the problem, ignorance is not the answer.

CJ McMullan, Coppull resident