PLANS for a new £6.5million OnSide Youth Zone, supporting thousands of young people across Warrington, have been given the green light by the town’s planners.
The joint venture between national young people’s charity OnSide and Warrington Borough Council will see a purpose-built facility which will raise aspirations, enhance prospects and improve health and wellbeing for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds in Warrington.
The new Youth Zone will offer affordable activities in sports, arts, music, employability and mentoring to young people aged from eight to 19, or up to 25 for those with a disability, every day of the week.
The confirmed site for the new state-of-the-art facility in the Stadium Quarter next to the UTC, which when completed will see Warrington Youth Club move to its new Youth Zone home. The proposed location is extremely central and accessible by public transport, enabling it to be reached by large numbers of young people from across the borough.
Cllr Jean Carter, executive board member for children’s services said: “I am delighted that planning consent has been approved for the new Warrington Youth Zone. I cannot wait to see work start on site. The opportunities it will offer young people from sports to media, arts and preparing for work are hugely exciting and will benefit the whole town.”
Mark Brocklehurst, Chair of Warrington Youth Club said: “Gaining planning consent is really exciting for everybody involved, especially the young people of the town. Warrington Youth Club is already making a huge difference to the lives of young people in the area, but Youth Zones have a remarkable track record of changing the lives of so many more and we can’t wait for that offer to extend to Warrington. Our next step is to get on the site and get building this fantastic facility.”
Warrington Youth Zone’s capital cost of £6.5m is being funded by Warrington Borough Council and a number of additional generous funders who are keen to see Warrington benefit from an OnSide Youth Zone.
Pictured (L-R) Warrington Youth Club (WYC) young person, Councillor Jean Carter executive board member for children’s services, Lindsay Gibbons, WYC Mentoring Programme Manager, Mark Brocklehurst, Chair of WYC and Dave McNicholl CEO of WYC.
2 Comments
I wanted to clarify some points made regarding this exciting new project by a number of folks on several newspaper sites:
1. The council are only putting up half of the £6.5m the rest will come from OnSide contacts.
2. The revenue will be provided from a number of sources…grants and trusts, local individuals, local and national businesses, the community (including the young people) and paid for programs.
3. OnSide have 8 YZs up and running and have never had to go back to any council ‘cap in hand’
4. The support we have in Warrington from all sectors is brilliant.
5. The council have not been asked for a contribution towards revenue funding and all our projections are based on that.
6. The loss made by Warrington Youth club last year was largely a timing issue and this year we will have a surplus.
I really hope this helps cover the questions and negative comments posted recently…if not…I am happy to answer any further questions.
Great to see Warrington delivering the WYZ. Having seen these in other cities, the benefit for young people of all ages and backgrounds is amazing and offers many advantageous to those that would never have such opportunities. All cities should aspire to this