A MOVE to relaunch Ledbury Youth Centre is under way after problems recruiting staff left it largely unused for a year.

The town council, Herefordshire Council and youth provision bodies, such as Ledbury Youth First, will meet on October 1 at Hinton Youth Centre, Hereford, to discuss the future of the venue.

Over the summer, it was used as a needle exchange centre for heroin users but little else. Mayor Keith Francis, who has arranged preliminary meeting with youth provision groups in advance of the meeting, said the aim was to bring the centre back into use.

"There must be other places more suitable for a needle exchange," he said.

The reason the centre has been so little used is because Herefordshire Council has had no response to job adverts seeking part-time youth workers to be based there.

Coun Francis called the youth centre, off Bye Street, a major facility for young people in the town and suggested that money from the Market Towns Initiative could be used to bring it on line.

He said: "Perhaps we could get funding for a youth worker there for two years."

Coun Francis is also keen to see the building used for workshop sessions and suggested that community groups, including Ledbury Youth First, Urchins and Acorns to Oaks, could benefit from the facilities of a relaunched youth centre.

The Ledbury Area Drugs Forum is keen to re-establish a needle exchange in Ledbury, perhaps at the youth centre again. This would help to limit infections of the blood, such as HIV, and assist community safety.

Used needles have been recovered from Ledbury Recreation Ground and Church Lane toilets, according to drug workers.