To think that closing all these youth centres is like creating a time bomb?

[SaveMYC]

Namechanged as this could make me idientifiable. Naice ham, Pom bears etc...

All over the country, public spending cuts are meaning that councils are closing down youth centres. What will these kids do? Where will they go? What will it mean?

I know the country is hard up, but did this summer's riots not indicate that the one area we can't afford to scrimp is youth services?

GRRRR!

I have been involved in trying to save our local one. We have finalised our business case and the decision is going to be made on the 24th. The many, many hours of work that we have gone to to make this work, I really hope the decision goes our way! We've come a long way - the land was due to be sold off for luxury housing, but now it looks as if we might be in with a chance...

If the council do agree, and if they give us good enough terms that allow us to run it properly, then the young people of our town have somewhere to go. But who is going to take over the others? Or will they just not exist? Where is this 'Big Society' going to come from?

maypole I agree about costs, & at the moment it's the awful truth that somehow we have to make cuts there is always going to be some worthy cause that loses out.

I''m not advocating having huge big centres open for just one or two kids, but surely investing in centres with a proven track record is better long term than
nothing.

As Gordy says you can't force people, and sometimes it's not that clear cut, problems within families evolve over the years due to unemployment,ill health, & a myriad of other reasons. Very few famililes are "bad" families, often they just need help & support & sometimes they can't/won't take it so the children need to have somewhere else to turn.

We all have our areas of concern & our own charities/causes to support, I applaud the OP for supporting a local one,whilst recognising not everyone will agree.

Does anyone know how many youths clubs there were, and how any have been closed (or had closure announced)?

Provision of youth clubs is a local council issue.

There are no closures in my area.

I suppose the solution is for people to become more engaged with their local community and ensure their voices are heard by their Councils when they are setting their budgets. At least every MNetter will be able to do that much easily (by email); perhaps some will be able to take a more active campaigning or representational role in their communities.

yet the money can be found to reintroduce weekly bin collections? talk about skewed priorities

Gordy - in our area at least, the bin collections are dealt with by the district council, whereas it is the county council who has the remit for youth services.

In our case, the district council has been very supportive, and has even offered funding despite it being out of their remit, but it has been the county council dragging their heels to support us.

It looks as if, when the decision is made next week, we might be offered a chance at running it. However, it is still unclear what the terms will be. If the lease we are offered is short, it will make attracting grant and business funding impossible, yet the council will have come across as having offered us a chance. What should we do if this is the case? Take it on, knowing we could well fail, turn the offer down and let the young people down? Or can we fight for better terms? How can we do that?
Also, the youth centre sits on a large plot of land. The use of the outside space is integral to our plan, yet we have heard that some of the land might be fenced off so that we (or anyone else) can't use it. Why might this be? How can we make sure this doesn't happen?

Answers on a postcard please!

PumpkinBones are you in Glos by any chance? I was wondering if you could tell me, is it just charities or also community groups that have been asked to take them over? Do you know where I might be able to get any info to contact them for advice and support?

I'm not I'm afraid! in our area, we went to a briefing on funding youth services, and there was talk of community groups interchangeably with charities, and voluntary organisations however by looking at what the council expect from organisations applying to run services in practice it would only be charities - for example, all organisations have to have a minumum of 10 million public liability insurance and employers liability insurance, and £5million for something else, there has to be a clear organisational structure with defined line management, there has to be accredited training programmes for volunteers, and everyone would have to meet certain tiers of qualification / competency. Obviously, as I say I am in a different region to you, but please do PM me if I can be any more help!

maypole which free transport? Children and young people pay for their public transport, unlike over 60s...

Children and young people have had a terrible lot from this government - 25% unemployment rates, university fees at minimum of £7500 per year, lack of apprenticeships, proposals to cancel the minimum wage, lower minimum wage than other employees, reduced investment in their nurseries, schools and universities, library closures AND youth centre closures.

tell me, exactly how wonderful it is to be young right now, because not one young person I know would agree with you.

In London young people under 16 get free travel via the oyster card unless they have been in trouble with the police or school in which case it's removed
And rightly so

Young people who are between 16-19 but still in education also get free education

I very much doubt the young people who were looting o to the library how telling every shop in hackney was looted except the waterstones

My son who is a young person dose not think he has a terrible lot he's looking forward to eventually going to uni and has been taught that it's his and his family's job to pay for his education and knows thats graduates on the whole are the ones who benefits form the increase in wage.

He also sees that more money dose not make his school better

Discipline,rigour and a no excuses environment are what brings results.

Maypole, ask your son again what he thinks when he leaves uni with £30000 debt and can only get a job in Tesco, please.