THE Duchy of Cornwall has made a cash donation to help set up a residential drug rehabilitation centre in Herefordshire.

It has given the trustees of The Lifebuoy Trust encouragement to carry on with a scheme aimed at supporting youngsters who want to give up drugs to resume a normal and stable lifestyle.

The Lifebuoy Trust is a charity born in Herefordshire, the idea of a group of people with experience and knowledge of the effects of drug addiction on the lives of individuals, their families and the community at large.

It wanted to work with others in setting up and operating a 15-place residential rehabilitation centre in the area linked to a full range of related services.

But Lifebuoy has so far failed to win the financial support of Herefordshire Council through its Government-funded Supporting People Programme.

The groups and agencies now responsible for helping addicts send them outside the county for detoxification and rehabilitation. When they return they are given 'floating' support in the community.

But the Lifebuoy Trust believes that a good option would be to offer them help in a residential rehabilitation centre for up to six months.

This meant they could stay in their own locality, keep in touch with their families, have a stable address and be given the best opportunity to return to work.

Despite the set back, the Lifebuoy Trust is determined to carry on, although on a reduced scale.

Instead of 15 places, it has set its sights on a residential centre for five reforming addicts and hopes to have positive news on progress by the end of the year, said its chairman, David Stevens.

With the support of community and business interests, the Lifebuoy Trust has raised enough money to appoint a project manager to take the scheme forward and later will engage a full-time manager for the centre.

Negotiations are taking place with a housing association to find the right house in the right place.

Addicts who are willing to accept help and join the centre will have to remain drug free - a relapse will bring about their departure.

Mr Stevens and fellow trustees John Cooper, William Lyons and Rosie Dyke are determined to see the scheme through.

They believe they will attract funding from various sources and predict that if given a chance to prove its value Herefordshire's Lifebuoy Trust will be copied countrywide.