State-of-the-art youth zone would be ‘game-changer’

TEENAGERS want more youth services in a Hounslow town where they don’t feel safe and intend to present their ideas to councillors next month.

Feltham Young Activists, in collaboration with the Reach Academy, have big ambitions to bring an OnSide Youth Zone to Feltham to improve the town for young people, it was revealed at a public forum last month.

OnSide is a national charity that funds and builds state-of-the-art, multimillion-pound youth centres in the UK’s most economically disadvantaged areas. These Youth Zones provide affordable sports, arts and leisure activities seven days a week.

There are 14 in the UK, with the closest one in Croydon which has nearly 4,000 young members. It has been described as a ‘game changer’ for Feltham if campaigners can grow support.

Young people don’t feel safe in the town, a map created by the Hounslow Young Facilitators, a group of teenagers aged from 11 to 19, showed. Teenagers said they feel safest in the east of the borough rather than towards the west in Bedfont, Feltham or Hanworth.

Lily Bough, Feltham Project

Manager at the Reach Academy, revealed ambitious plans for a state-of-the-art youth facility, with the capacity to serve the whole borough on September 29.

She told the councillors present meeting: “We know from a range of indicators that children in Feltham have worse outcomes than their peers in parts of Hounslow and in London, that is why we and OnSide feel that a Hounslow Youth Zone would be best placed here in Feltham. Our young people deserve the same opportunities that others may take for granted.

“[The Youth Zone] would be an absolute game changer in the narrative that young people have of themselves and of Feltham and it would uplift the community as a whole.”

Councillor Richard Foote welcomed the proposal for more youth facilities in the area. The Hanworth Village councillor said:

“There are no more facilities for the youth in Hanworth than there were when I was growing up and that is an absolutely disgusting situation. It is about time that people actually did notice this and you are the first people to come along and actually give me some hope that something can be done.”

He added that the Hanworth Youth Centre provides services for around 100 young people, but said that it was not enough. He added: “The rest of the kids just wander around the streets and get up to mischief in various places then get blamed for everything that goes wrong when it is not their fault”

However, Councillor Lily Bath raised concerns about the costs, saying: “I think in principle it is an absolutely fantastic idea and of course, we’d want to support and enable as many activities for young people as possible. However, there’s a big capital cost, there’s a revenue cost and, of course, issues, about where’s the land, where would it be, and you know, what else is available in the borough?”

Mrs Bough told councillors that it would cost £9 million to build the Hounslow Youth Zone. Half would be funded by private investors but £4.5 million would need to come from the authority.

Once the scheme is up and running, the council would have to give the Youth Zone £400,000, 30 per cent, of the annual revenue. To make up the rest of the running costs, 60 per cent would come from investors and the final 10 per cent would be from annual memberships of £5 per year. Feltham Young Activists and Reach Academy will be presenting their business plan to councillors at Feltham Library on November 22.