Youth workers Unite against private Youth Zone plan

YOUTH workers staged a protest against Warrington council’s plans to invest £3m in a privately run “Youth Zone” in the former Mr Smith’s nightclub building- at the same time as cutting their modest Youth Service budget.
With the support of Unite the Union, youth workers lobbied the council’s Executive meeting asking why the council was planning to hand over £3 million to the private company Onside, to create the so-called ‘Youth zone’, when at the same time they plan to cut the Youth Service budget in 2015/16 by £150,000, having previously cut it by £168,000 in 2014/15.
Over the past three years, dozens of Youth Workers have lost their jobs and now more could be under threat.
Cllr. Kevin Bennett, TUSC Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Warrington South, joined the lobby in solidarity with the Youth Workers.
He said: “listening to the Youth Workers, it seems that WBC failed to consult in any meaningful way, either to the young people or its own youth
workers, about the proposed Youth Zone. While we don’t support the Tory led Governments ‘austerity’ programme of cuts, neither can we
support the WBC’s ill-considered proposal.
“While it is right for the Council to support better provision for our young people, this Youth Zone is not the answer. It would be far better if Labour councillors properly engaged with young people in a meaningful way about the youth services they would like to see in their local areas, and then worked to try and deliver those. Instead, they are pumping £3 million into a Youth Zone which would be out of reach for most people, and which many youth workers are agreed is just a vanity project.
“It’s also well known that Labour councillors are very divided on this project. Many would want to oppose it because there are more effective ways of spending the money, but it is likely they will be ‘gagged’ by the Labour leadership.
“I am in favour of more support being given to youth services around the town, so they can be accessed locally.”
Cllr. Bennett continued: “The only serious limitation is the overall size and scope of the Youth Service, due to the budget cuts. Young people constantly tell the Youth workers that they want local community venues, with local youth workers who they can talk to and get support from, therefore the youth workers strongly urge the WBC to think again! Young people are not calling for a so called ‘Youth Zone’ that will mainly favour the more affluent young people across the bridge to the South of Warrington and so further isolate the most vulnerable’.
“Youth workers are in regular contact with Warrington’s young people, aged 13 to 19 and for a fraction of the cost of the Youth Zone. It ensures that youth workers are professionally trained, qualified and paid to support young people in an educational and effective manner, along with supervised volunteers’.
“The difficulties that young people face are complex and wide ranging and at a time of sustained austerity it becomes more important than ever, that current resources are allocated properly to the areas and services in order to keep our young people healthy and safe. It is imperative that WBC stop and take stock and consult with the young people and the workers at the sharp end, the Youth Workers themselves’.
Warrington council has provisionally allocated £3m in capital budget for the possibility of upgrading the former Mr Smith’s site into a youth zone but this is subject to a business plan and risk assessment – no decision had yet been made yet.