THE chairman of Salisbury Area Board has said “there will be hell to pay” if Wiltshire Council blocks a move to save the youth music service Bass Connection.

Wiltshire Council wants to close Grosvenor House, which is used by hundreds of young musicians every week, and move Bass Connection to the new campus at Five Rivers Leisure Centre next year.

However, Bass Connection will no longer be run by Wiltshire Council which has scrapped its youth service, making many youth workers redundant.

In an attempt to save the popular music project, Salisbury Area Board had arranged for local company Sound Emporium to take over the running of Bass Connection at Grosvenor House while the campus is being built.

But now the move could be blocked because Sound Emporium is not a community interest company or a charity.

Special approval would be needed from Wiltshire Council’s cabinet and it has not yet been granted.

Salisbury Area Board chairman, Ricky Rogers, is furious.

He said: “They (Wiltshire Council) are making the whole thing up on the hoof, they allocated us money to spend as we see fit but are not letting the area board use it,” he said.

“I only found out on Thursday that I would not be able to use money allocated to the board on this project.

“If in two weeks cabinet has not approved it then there will be hell to pay.

“I did all the checks in the run-up to the meeting and there was never anything in the council’s rules saying that I couldn’t do it.

“It was almost as if the council saw that we might pass it and decided to throw up hoops for us to pass through.”

Following Wiltshire Council’s decision to close its youth service, each area board was allocated a pot of money to spend on youth projects.

Salisbury Area Board has forecast it will cost £12,000 to keep Bass Connection running at Grosvenor House for another year.

Cllr Rogers added: “The council just expects us to rely on services which are provided for free.

“They don’t understand that isn’t what young people want and there is a massive disconnect between the council and young people.”

David Gray, a youth worker at Grosvenor House, added: “I would be really disappointed if this did not go through. Bass Connection is a flagship project but not the only thing that is run by Grosvenor House.

“We provide a space where young people can relax. The worry is that this has the potential to be a car crash and we are the passengers.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “The area board has asked the council to exercise its discretion to waive the requirements of its grants policy which the council can do in appropriate circumstances so that it may award a grant to Sound Emporium to support the service until it moves to the campus.

“The council recognises the urgency of the matter and will provide a response to the area board as soon as possible.”