COUNCIL bosses want to build bus-shelter type huts for young people to hang out in around South Bucks in a bid to cut vandalism.

The youth shelters would be similar to bus shelters and aim to distract young people from vandalising other buildings. Apparently a pilot scheme in the Aylesbury Vale district has reduced vandalism to almost zero.

But surely this is just giving young people somewhere secluded, out of sight of adults to get up to mischief from smoking to sex and perhaps drug abuse.

Young curious minds will almost always make their own amusement if they are not distracted by other forms of entertainment usually provided by youth clubs or centres which offer adult supervision.

If there is a problem with vandalism, there must be bored young people around and it appears a cheap measure to provide huts for young people to hang out in and not go the whole hog and provide proper facilities.

The idea of providing huts suggests that as long as an area does not have to suffer vandalism it does not matter what else young people may be doing to themselves or each other.

Hiding the problem of bored youngsters under these shelters will not make it go away.

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