A YOUTH drop-in facility hangs in the balance after the county council announced plans to cut funding by £56,000 next year.

The Junction, which needs £100,000 a year to run, faces closure following the loss of funding from Hampshire County Council.

The charity-run centre, on Junction Road, has helped thousands of vulnerable young people since it opened in 2004.

Vanessa Bedford, care and support manager at Alabaré, which runs it, said: “The loss of the drop-in at The Junction will mean that vulnerable young people and those needing support will have nowhere to go that is young people friendly.

“At The Junction we identify and support vulnerable young people, helping them to stay safe.

“We deliver support for young people to engage in training and employment, including offering an employability accredited training programme.

“We also offer counselling from the building and although we will still be able to offer this we will not be able to meet the growing demand for this service.

“Should The Junction have to close I fear that some vulnerable young people will slip through the net.”

The centre added local councillors and MPs have already indicated that they would like to see the facility remain open.

One of the councillors who opposes The Junction’s potential closure is Andover town councillor Luigi Gregori.

The Millway ward councillor said: “The Junction is quite a unique, integrated service.

“There’s not a lot of provision for youths in Andover as it is.

“I feel quite strongly about it, it’s a vital service.”

The Junction is part of the larger Andover Foyer scheme, which additionally provides housing for those young people with no other homes to go to.

The loss of funding will affect Andover Foyer and the range of services it provides, though its housing services would not be directly impacted.

A spokesman for HCC said: “Local priorities for children’s services grant funding for 2017/18, were set by the Test Valley Local Children’s Partnership (LCP) to support projects for 0 to 19 year olds.

“A funding application from the voluntary organisation Alabaré, which operates an information, advice and guidance project from The Junction, was unsuccessful, primarily because it offered a counselling service that would overlap with the new Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contract.

“The new CCG contract provides significantly more funding to counselling services than the County Council has been able to provide to date, and the Local LCP was advised not to award grants which would result in counselling services to 0 to 19 year olds being duplicated.

“The fact that Alabaré’s application was unsuccessful is not a reflection of the quality of the services delivered by the organisation, but it is about being vigilant to maintain a clear focus on priorities within the scope of limited available funding.”