FUNDING for youth services in Bury has dropped by more than 85 per cent since 2010, startling research suggests.

Spending by the local authority is expected to be slashed from over £3.8 million in 2010/11 to just £564,000 in this financial year, according to the YMCA.

Such cuts will have effects on youth offending rates, the charity suggests, and may lead to more young people falling into crime.

However Bury Council has refuted these figures saying that the charity has misrepresented the situation.

Councillor Sharon Briggs, who previously held the portfolio for children and families, said that the cuts have had “a big community impact”. She said: “It’s very limited what young people have got now in terms of youth development, sports and activities. They have got fewer opportunities and that impact can possibly be seen in anti-social behaviour.”

Denise Hatton, chief executive of YMCA England and Wales, said: “Youth services offer a vital lifeline within communities. The year-on-year cuts to youth services are not without consequences and we are already seeing the impact.”

Ms Hatton also said: “I am certain that youth services have a significant role to play in helping young people who are choosing to carry knives or weapons and those who are contemplating it. Young people need a place to go where they can belong.”

Bury was one of 84 councils to provide data for the YMCA investigation which compared Department for Education figures for local authority spending on services for young people.

A Bury Council spokesman said: “We have never had a budget of £3.8 million for our youth services, so we must treat these figures with a great deal of scepticism.

“This figure was listed in a Government table of local education authority expenditure under the heading ‘Services for Young People’, which is not the same thing as ‘Youth Services’ and may therefore be a completely inaccurate portrayal of the reality.”