HUNDREDS of scouts will no longer be able to enjoy summer breaks at campsites because the Government thinks young yobs are more deserving, a local scoutmaster has claimed.

Scout leaders and parents have attacked the Government for spending millions on projects for minority youth groups, some of which are for young offenders, while 14 scout camps, including three used by youngsters from Harrow and Brent, are sold off.

Tony Ransley, development advisor for Pinner and Headstone scouts, is livid that unruly youths now benefit at the expense of ordinary children.

He said: "This Government's youth policies are a complete shambles. They seem unable to grasp that the time to invest in youth activities is before young people become disaffected, not after they have started to offend.

"Streetwise young people know that the worse you behave, the more trips thay will take you on."

As part of its "social inclusion agenda", the Department of Culture, Media and Sport is diverting Lottery funding from traditional youth organisations such as the scouts and channeling a major part of the £200 million Young People's Fund into initiatives for groups such as ethnic minorities, the disabled and "anti-social youngsters".

This has left the cash-strapped scouting movement with no option but to draw up plans to sell its best campsites. Many scouts are heartbroken.

Mrs A Newbury, of Ivy Close, South Harrow, whose son Michael, 13, is a patrol leader, said: "The scout movement is a great gift that Britain has given to the world. It would be scandalous if it was allowed to collapse through government neglect."

Shiv Patel, also 13, of The Retreat, North Harrow. is devastated that he may never go camping with the scouts again. His mother said: "It's a real shame that young people won't be able to benefit as my son has done. He really enjoys the freedom to go camping that the sites provide."

Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, a former Headstone scout, expressed his concern, saying he hoped to meet Mr Ransley soon.

"I would like to get a better understanding of the scouts funding arrangements to see if the campsites can be saved," he said.

The campsites, which are also used by children from inner-city areas, are deemed to be scout assets, lowering the movement's chances of receiving government grants. To get government support, the scouts would have to sell them off.