Kids across Lancashire depend on Youth Centres and tomorrow (8th Sept) we’re finding out their fate.
The County Council is set to approve their budget which has to balance the books after massive funding cuts from the government.
That means the local authority is getting rid of some of the properties they own to save costs.
After 18 months of battling, it looks like Stoops and Hargher Clough Young People’s Centre will see their funding axed.
Without the money staff at the centre in Burnley won’t be able to afford the costs to keep running the building which provides a safe place for youngsters to have fun and learn.
But they’ve managed to secure funding from a charitable partner to cover some of the costs for the next three years.
We asked volunteer Chris Keene what does the future hold from them after this decision:
“We’re obviously aware the county council has had to through very, very difficult process over the last three or four years to make hard decisions on the massive reductions in budget they’ve got from government.
“We’re fairly clear in our minds, as much as we’ve campaigned very hard to retain this building, we’re pretty clear the recommendation that have been made for us not to be retained is likely to be carried by the cabinet.
“And we’ve been preparing for that eventually.
We’ve worked long and hard to secure the future of the building through an asset transfer and we’ve been carrying on that work.
“We’ve secured funding support from a fantastic charitable partner.
“That gives us three years phased support to allow us to develop the activities inside the building and to provide some stability and financial security.
“It’s a big responsibility but there’s a huge need in our area that’s why it’s so important we need to make this transfer successful.
“We’re going to be carrying out a review process talking to hundreds and hundreds of people in the community from young children right the way through to people in their 60s, 70s and beyond.
“One of the strong messages that have come through to us is that people want to see this building return to being for the whole community because recently redefined it as a young people’s centre.
“We want to make sure that everyone is welcome here.
“Alongside that we’re also talking to various partner organisations from the public and volunteer sector about how they can shape their services and come in here to help.”
But it’s still left a big bill for them to foot:
“The average annual cost of running this place is 34,500 a year and in the 15th poorest community in England that’s a big ask to raise that money.
“We need to bring in partner organisations that have secure streams of funding that allows them to deliver services here that meet local needs.
Despite all the hard work and battling – it’s clear that this support means so much to the local community.
“It’s quite humbling for us to see how emotional attached people are with this place which is why we’ve been so fired up to work with the county council to secure the future of the building.
“We’ve had very emotional supportive comments from people whose grandchildren are now coming to this building saying what this place has meant to them.”
If funding cuts go ahead as planned then the relaunch of the community centre could happen at the start of 2017.
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