Agenda item

To consider the new arrangements for a Community-Led Youth Service and Local Youth Network for the Bradford on Avon community area.

 

Jim Lynch from BoACAN introduced Will Sansom from Close Range Films who had made a film funded by the Colonel Llewellen Palmer Educational Trust which documented the Youth Support and Provision in Bradford on Avon, focusing on services provided at the Youth Development Centre and informal skateboarding at the Station car park.

 

Cllr Richard Gamble - Portfolio Holder for Schools, Skills and Youth at Wiltshire Council - gave a short presentation that outlined the new arrangements for a Community-Led Youth Service and Local Youth Network for the Bradford on Avon community area.

 

Points made included:

 

Drivers for change

 

·       The service is changing to reflect young people’s modern lives.

 

·       There has been duplication of activities in some areas (council voluntary, community and commercial youth activities).

 

·       Campus programme provides new opportunities.

 

·       Continuing need to support those who are vulnerable.

 

 

The Decision-making process

 

·       10-week, wide-ranging consultation launched in February.

 

·       New operating model agreed by cabinet on 15 May.

 

 

Cabinet Decision and the Community-Led Model

 

On 15 May, cabinet agreed to...

 

·       Adopt the key principles for a new operating model.

 

·       Authorise implementation of the community-led model for youth activities to increase the opportunities for young people’s involvement and engagement.

 

·       Maximise the amount of funding available to community area boards and local coordination.

 

·       Delegate authority to Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and senior officers to develop and implement the new operating model.

 

 

Key Features of the Community-led Model

 

·       Community-led youth offer.

 

·       Local Youth Networks (LYNs).

 

·       Focus on safeguarding and targeted youth support.

 

·       Promotion of the overall youth offer.

 

·       Stronger focus on accountability and impact.

 

 

Working together on the next steps

 

·       Review your local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

 

·       Talk to your young people and community and identify the activities needed in your local area.

 

·       Identify and engage key partners (including VCS) to establish a Local Youth Network and discuss findings.

 

·       Consider where activities could take place.

 

·       Agree local priorities and commission activity.

 

 

Questions and points raised included:

 

Are young peoples’ views really being listened to by Wiltshire Council?

a.Yes we have listened, but we had to look at how much it costs to operate a building such as the BoA youth centre and it does not justify the amount spent on it when you look at how many young people actually use it.

 

You may have heard the voices of the young people, but did you listen to them. A consultation is a good way of getting what you want, statistics can tell any story.

a.The community-led model will in the future mean that communities will be able to talk with their Area Boards about the direction of youth services etc.

 

Other community groups use the youth centre building, Cllr Mayes assured us at the 12 March 2014 Bradford on Avon Area Board that the youth centre building wouldn’t close without a suitable building being made available to house the community groups that use it, this is now not happening.

a.Wiltshire Council are currently looking at what options are available for the other users of the youth centre building.

 

Residents of Bradford on Avon are shocked that the youth centre would close at the end of July, would the local community have a chance to obtain the building from Wiltshire Council before it is sold off.

a.It would be good if Fitzmaurice School could be involved in any future use of the building.

 

Volunteers cannot be expected to give the same level of service as the current youth workers.

a.If volunteers cannot deliver the service then specialist providers would be looked at.

 

The BoA campus is still in the planning stage, what happens in the interim until new youth/community buildings are available?

a.Wiltshire Council are still working to find a solution.

 

Could the building be kept open as a community building?

a.The site could be signed over to the Town Council as an asset transfer. There are talks ongoing with Fitzmaurice Primary School, will hope we can find a way to a successful outcome.

 

Fitzmaurice School would be a good base to deliver the youth provision from.

 

An allocation of £18,000 p/a for community youth funding is not enough. The running costs of the current building alone are £ 20,000 per annum.

 

We are in real danger of losing the youth workers and their expertise.

 

The voluntary sector cannot provide specialist services such as are currently provided by the Council to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youths.  

 

The Holt and Broughton Gifford Youth Work project would be affected, it needs £ 3,000 - £6,000 and trained youth workers to run weekly sessions.

 

Local Police were keen to work with Wiltshire Council as they had concerns as to what will happen if the youth centre closes with no plan in place as to where youth provision would be run from.

 

Closing youth centres and losing youth workers, was that in the consultation?

 

Are the Area Boards really expected to run local youth services with a budget of £18,000 p/a? Councillor Macdonald voiced concern that the Area Board was being tasked with commissioning youth work but that members were not experts in this field. 

 

Jim Lynch announced that BoACAN would be facilitating an “Open Youth Forum” at St Margaret’s Hall on 31 July from 4.30pm for young people and stakeholders to voice their concerns about the proposed closure of the Youth Development Centre building and to start to plan for the future under the new community-led delivery model through getting involved in the formation of a Local Youth Network for the Bradford on Avon community area.   

 

 

Decision

 

To recommend to Bradford on Avon Town Council the following actions: 

 

·       To designate the site of the Youth Development Centre on Frome Road, Bradford on Avon, as being for “community use” in a site allocations proposals map in the emerging Neighbourhood Plan.

 

·       To consider a Community Asset Transfer application to transfer ownership and management of the asset from Wiltshire Council to a bone fide community organisation in Bradford on Avon.   

 

·       To nominate the Youth Development Centre as an “Asset of Community Value” so that, in the event of Wiltshire Council wishing to dispose of the asset, the statutory provisions of the Community Right to Bid will allow the community to raise funds to put in a bid and to buy it on the open market.

 

The Chairman thanked Cllr Richard Gamble for his presentation and for attending the meeting.