In my role as county councillor and my involvement in youth activities, I have witnessed the work carried out by the county council's Youth Service and voluntary youth groups.

To provide a wide range of activities for our youth across Worcester is complicated to say the least.

The Youth Service, community centres, voluntary organisations, local authorities, are all there cross-cutting, fighting for funding, sometimes from the same pot.

Much of our youth provision in Worcester comes from the local authorities, various police initiatives and grants.

We have over 7,700 young people between the ages of 13 and 19 and spend approximately £70 per head per annum, significantly less than most other counties.

In each area of our city it should be recognised that there is usually only a maximum of two to three nights a week of facilities provided specifically for this age group to use.

The Worcester Youth Strategy Group was set up to co-ordinate these activities across the city, to identify the gaps in provision, to bring together all groups involved in providing or supporting youth work and encourage them to work together in tackling the gaps and make improvements where necessary, hopefully leading to more frequent provision.

More recently, it has looked at the need to co-ordinate our efforts in order to make strong representations to those bodies that we rely on to provide the funding streams.

Uncertainty over funding, coupled with the reported problems of anti-social behaviour by a minority of young people, is resulting in the youth organisations being diverted from their targeted work, instead having to devote much of their time on bringing about some positive solutions to these matters.

This constant attack on young people seems to label them all as anti-social.

If we believe all we hear, the sole aim of those wandering our streets or meeting in children's parks is to cause misery to those living nearby.

My aim as chairman of Worcester Strategy Group is to ensure that by liaising closely with the youth, police and all youth bodies - both voluntary and county services - we identify the source of the problem and produce tailored plans and "models" to provide a vast reduction in the problems making the headlines.

To create these solutions, it is important to recognise that you cannot label young people as the same.

Young people are no different than adults - we all have different interests.

Many of our young people are able to use their own initiative in joining clubs, carrying out sporting activities or just meeting friends and have no desire to wander around the streets and estates.

Others will happily go to the cinema or bowling alleys and use the facilities provided by the local centre. Many of them would never be seen taking part in the large gatherings seen each night in the local play areas or streets.

It is often the case that they have families that support them and ensure they have a responsible attitude.

Alternatively, we recognise there are those young people who will not always want to be involved in organised events, and instead would see a good night out as with a group of friends, hanging around or "chilling out".

They generally meet outside shops, parks or children's play areas.

When visiting these meeting places, you will find that in general they are doing no more harm than being boisterous or showing off to the opposite sex.

If there was only a handful of these teenagers, nobody would notice them. But put 30-40 of these young people together and the result is that you have a noise. Put them in a children's play area and you have a major problem due to the close proximity to houses.

These meeting places are initially harmless, but often turn into a focal point which encourages a few more challenging type of youths to join.

These are the type who will throw stones, break windows, damage cars and openly encourage confrontation with local residents.

When questioning those young people who weren't a problem, it is evident that many of them want a solution, and are quick to point out those who are causing the nuisance.

The police, rapid response teams and youth workers are constantly in touch with these people and are given the same simple message by them - they have nowhere to go but to meet in the children's parks or in front of the local store or fish and chip shop, mainly because there is cover or a simple street light.

The area where I live, Warndon Villages, is typical. The local community centre is geared to provide facilities for babies through to the ages of eight or nine.

When walking these areas, you will find many children's parks, filled with swings, slides and roundabouts - again all geared for the pre-school and primary school age.

You will not find in any of our housing estates areas designed to cater for the early adult age groups (13-19 year olds).

Those who control the purse strings or planning committees seem to have a major problem grasping that we need to provide facilities for our 13-19 year olds, and will often quote that there are plenty of facilities available, deeming all youths as having the same interests.

I have witnessed some councillors constantly critisising our young people and quick to have their photo in the local paper to highlight the damaged bus shelter or telephone box.

Often these are the same people who are causing the disquiet when criticising the local police so publicly.

It would be more constructive to avoid this negative attitude and instead listen to all our young people and/or identify best practice in other authorities, in order to introduce proven practices which will help reduce many of the most basic problems we have.

They will find, as I have, that a simple youth shelter placed in a carefully chosen location within the problem areas would alleviate a great deal of those complaints made, so reducing police time.

There are some very good examples seen in other authorities in which these shelters provide an area identified by these young people as their own and move them to a locality accepted by the youth as still being in the centre of our community, but well away from those residents living close to the reported play areas.

I reluctantly have to admit that there is still a very small group of youngsters in areas across the city that will not even be happy with the provision of a youth shelter.

However, I believe if we attempt to provide a solution for the majority of our young people, it will then give our dedicated youth workers and police a better chance to concentrate on the isolated few.