YOUNG people must be brought to work for the council to avoid a serious skills shortage in future years.

Town hall bosses are worried that lack of cash is leading to a dearth of upcoming talent.

They have agreed to set up a youth employment scheme, similar to "modern apprenticeships", to train school and college-leavers into permanent jobs.

The plan will cost almost £110,000 a year - but councillors admit there is no money set aside in the kitty to pay for it. They hope budget surpluses later this year will enable the project to go ahead.

If the cash is found, a dozen trainees would be recruited to work in different departments towards an appropriate NVQ. They would be paid the going rate for basic clerical work and undertake in-house training, and hopefully slot into available jobs after one or two years.

Figures show that since the authority's "pool junior" scheme ceased in 1991, very few young people are employed by the council - five per cent are aged under 25.

The plan was approved in principle by councillors at Wednesday's resource committee, subject to resources being found in September when last year's budgets are tallied up.

Councillor Paul Nesbit said: "We're going to find ourselves short of talent in the years ahead. Hopefully we can find the resources to get this going."

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