The City of Greater Bendigo has defended its youth engagement programs following suggestions unruly youth in the Hargreaves Mall have nothing to do.

Young communities co-ordinator David Williamson said there were plenty of opportunities for young people to occupy their time, should they wish to participate.

He cited the council’s central business district graffiti prevention project as one opportunity for bored teens to keep themselves busy.

“What we’re doing down there is working with Radius Disability Services to identify and clean up graffiti around the CBD and inviting young people to join the program,” he sad.

Mr Williamson said other youth-oriented programs included Freeza battle of the bands competitions and animation workshops.

“There is a lot, there’s no doubt about that, if you just look at the range of things we’ve got here, and we have hundreds of young people involved in those,” he said.

“You’re talking about a very large population, in the order of 18,000 young people and it’s growing.”