UNCERTAINTY may lead to trained staff leaving the neighbourhood warden service in Andover - Test Valley Borough Council's executive has been told.

The scheme was funded by a central government grant in a bid to improve community safety and the environment on some of Andover's estates.

But Government funding is now ending and now Test Valley Borough Council must decide how it will fund the service in future.

Councillor Sally Leach said: "Are we looking at the scheme and how we will be able to continue with it in the future? "Morale of the people employed in the service is a delicate issue.

"If people think their jobs will end in 2006 they are going to be looking around."

Council leader Ian Carr said a further paper on the future of the service would be going to the committee in March. "It's in the budget for continuation as it stands," he added.

In the budget the warden service, which works closely with the police, is listed as an inescapable 'revenue pressure' of £106,000 per annum in each of the next three financial years following loss of grant from central government.

For the full story see Friday's Andover Advertiser.