UPDATED: Council responds to suggestions that cash is needed to help keep Crowle youth club afloat
Crowle Youth Club is struggling to keep afloat and has called upon the town council to throw it a lifeline.
The youth club, which is located on Cross Street in the town, has come under fire in recent years from some residents who have reported issues of antisocial behaviour in the area around it.
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Crowle Youth Club
The centre has however proved popular with youngsters – but staff at the facility say funds from North Lincolnshire Council could soon be cut.
Now Pat Cooper, a project worker at the youth club, has appealed to Crowle and Ealand Town Council for support to keep the facility running.
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She said: "At some point, we are going to have our funds cut and that's why I've come to the town council to see if there is an alternative means of providing funds.
"We are looking at setting up a committee which would, if anybody is interested – such as parents and volunteers – raise funds. We have made links with funds from the wind farm firm SSE and other funds. North Lincolnshire Council will provide £3,000-£10,000 in the first year of a committee if we are successful for providing activities for 13 to 19-year- olds.
"We have yet to see the criteria for the grants or tender but the deadline is September or November so we don't have a lot of time. We want to know if Crowle Town Council is prepared to provide funds for a programme for young people such as an internet cafe or accredited sports training."
One person who spoke at the meeting, who revealed his name only as Ollie, works as a sports coach at the youth club.
He said: "We have quite a lot of good facilities for kids and we want these facilities to continue over the next six to 12 months, but to do that we need help from other people and the town council.
"We do handball. We are trying to bring new activities to keep kids active and we are looking for your help to keep that going."
Crowle youngster Llewi Downing, 16, said he welcomed anything that could bring new activities to cater for his age group. He said: "I think there should be more things to do in Crowle for kids my age because we don't really go to the youth club because there's nothing to do there and we have no interest in the skate park because none of us can do it.
"We hang around the Market Place and we get told off for doing that so it would be good if there were more workshops and sports and if the football pitch was closer to the town centre."
Councillor Rob Waltham (Brigg and Wolds), Cabinet Member responsible for Youth Services, said today (Monday, Sept 10): "There is absolutely no question of Crowle Youth Club ever closing or the budget being cut.
"We have undertaken a consultation with young people in Crowle. They tell us the youth service they want needs to be provided on a Friday and Saturday evening and improved in the summer holidays.
"Now we are developing our proposals so we can properly meet the needs of young people in the the Crowle area."
Comments
by Musicmagic
Monday, September 10 2012, 10:28AM
“It is not the job of Crowle Town Council to fund cuts to young people that North Lincs Council shouldn't be making in the first place. Youth provision is not an either or. Of course some young people won't go in a youth centre but plenty of others do, this is an attempt to play one off against the other and make cuts at the same time. I hope that Crowle's Tory Councillor, John Briggs will vote against the cuts and tell his Tory colleagues that cuts in services to young people always ends in trouble and the costs to the council of young people with nothing to do is often more than providing a proper service in the first place.”