Hundreds of young people could miss out on taking part in a life-changing scheme if the council goes ahead with plans to stop running the Duke of Edinburgh Award in Medway.

As well as taking part in expeditions, the award requires young people to volunteer in their community, learn a new skill and take part in a physical activity.

Last year, young people volunteered for 13,128 hours at youth groups, schools, sports clubs, charity shops and care homes.

In 2015/2016, 1,074 young people took part in the award in Medway and there are already 644 enrolled for 2016/2017.

Medway Council’s team provide training, expeditions and support young people through their award at schools and youth centres across Medway, from Rochester Grammar to Abbey Court Special School.

The funding will go down from £92,000 this year to £50,000 in the financial year beginning on April 1. That money will go to an outside provider and the council team will be scrapped. The council will stop financing the scheme completely in 2019.

The Medway Duke of Edinburgh Award’s Youth Panel, which was set up to give young people taking part in the award a say in how it is run, started a petition calling on the council to keep it in house.

"If we had not started DofE, we wouldn’t be the people we are today" - Medway Youth Panel

The petition which was launched yesterday morning, has more than 250 signatures from people across the Towns.

Speaking on behalf of the panel, co-chairs Leonie King, 17, and Lucy Maycock, 16, said: “If we had not started DofE, we wouldn’t be the people we are today.

“The award not only helps us give back to the community through volunteering, but it also teaches us skills which we would not learn elsewhere, for example independence, confidence, communication, and leadership skills.

“On expeditions, we are on our own and if we make mistakes we have to fix them and learn from them. It also gives us a chance to create memories which we will never forget and make friends who we might never normally meet.”

Leonie added: “There are a number of ways you can support us, by signing the petition, emailing your local councillor or MP and joining us at the cabinet meeting where this decision will be made.”

The pair are due to start their gold award expedition training with the scheme in January.

They said the price of the award to the young people is likely to increase as individual schools will have to pay for their own licence, costing £1,000, and possibly pay for companies to run the training and expeditions.

Last year, adult volunteers spent at least 5,800 hours helping with training and on expeditions.

Before he died earlier this year, Cllr Mike O’Brien, the former head of children services, said he was not prepared to see the award, or the youth service, disappear. Speaking in January he said: “I want to ensure long-term viability of our Duke of Edinburgh scheme and Medway Youth Parliament.

“If we don’t do it, we run the risk of the youth services disappearing and I and my colleagues are not prepared to see that happen.”

Last month, the cabinet decided to retain the youth service within the council rather than contract it out. The proposals for the DofE are due to be discussed at Medway Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, December 20.