A COUNTY council decision to close the Theydon Bois Youth Centre and seek planning approval to build eight to ten houses on the site has been condemned by Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing.

Essex County Council has declared that the Loughton Lane premises are "surplus to requirements", and says the centre will close in August.

But the move has been criticised by Mrs Laing, as well as the parish council and county councillor Janet Whitehouse, who 'called in' the decision, but did not win her fight, suggesting that the consultation into the proposals had been insufficient.

The council is also to close the Roding Centre, Buckhurst Hill, in a move that could, when the two premises are sold, raise about £1.5m for the authority.

Mrs Laing told the Guardian: "I challenge the claim that Theydon Bois Youth Centre and the Roding Centre are 'surplus to requirements'. They're being used at present by various groups and are therefore by definition required.

"I'm appalled at the way this decision has come from the county council with little or no consultation. It's ridiculous that these decisons are being taken."

She added: "I understand only too well the budgetary constraints under which Essex County Council is having to manage and I know how difficult leader Lord Hanningfield is finding these budget issues because the Labour Government has given such an appallingly low settlement to the county council thos year.

"The attitude of John Prescott and his ministers is that people in Essex don't need public funding because Essex isn't a deprived area and isn't in the inner cities. This is blatant nonsense.

"The children and young people of Theydon Bois, Buckhurst Hill and indeed the rest of Essex deserve opportunities just as much as any child in central London or Liverpool."

Mrs Laing will visit the Roding Centre on Friday, February 27, to meet centre users and campaigners who are fighting to save the premises from closure.