The Bradley Stoke Journal

Conservative Councillors have welcomed the signing of an agreement between Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC), South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP) that secures annual funding of £93,000 for youth work in Bradley Stoke.

Councillors claim that the new agreement will produce “better value for the money that both Councils put into youth services in the town”.

Under the ‘Commissioned Service Agreement’, £93,000 of  annual funding – made up of £60,000 from BSTC and £33,000 from SGC – will be paid to Southern Brooks Community Partnership to provide:

• A full-time qualified youth worker managing and co-ordinating the development and delivery of youth provision in Bradley Stoke, working closely with Bradley Stoke Youth Committee and South Gloucestershire Youth Service
• Four nights of centre-based youth sessions per week for the 13 – 19 age group
• Two centre-based activity sessions per week for the 10 – 13 aged group
• Two ‘detached’ youth sessions per week – where youth workers engage with young people ‘on the streets’

The agreement requires centre-based sessions to be provided for a minimum of 44 weeks per year.

Young people are said to have sat on the panel that chose the provider and quarterly reports will be provided to ensure that requirements are being met.

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The relocation of Bradley Stoke’s youth clubs to the Brook Way Activity Centre has claimed another victim with the news that the Black and Blues Netball Club has “reluctantly” decided to move to a different venue.

The netballers first came into confrontation with youth workers just days after the youth club moved in on 5th October. Youth leaders “mindful of [child protection] legislation” are said to have been concerned over the large number of netballers using the building at the same time as “the youth”.

The incident is said to have led to acrimonious correspondence between youth workers and the netball club over the use of the centre’s toilets. Bradley Stoke Town Council later ruled that the netballers should be allowed to use the disabled toilets, leaving the others for the sole use of the youth club.

But the compromise appears to have failed to resolve the situation, with the netballers reportedly being unhappy about having to be “escorted to the loo”.

Town Clerk David Chandler told this month’s meeting of the Finance Committee that representatives of the Black and Blues had turned up at the [council's] office “in a tearful state”, saying they felt they couldn’t continue to use the venue.

It is understood that the club will now meet at Bradley Stoke Community School.

Other hirers to have left Brook Way include the popular Weight Watchers group, which now meets at the nearby Wheatfield Primary School.

Councillor Julian Barge expressed anger that “an excellent paying hirer had been put off”. He added that the youth club contributes nothing to the council’s coffers and bemoaned the damage caused to the premises since the club moved in.

He urged fellow councillors to be “mindful in future that we need people who are prepared to pay for facilities” and concluded by saying that “the presence of the youth club is proving a very big headache”.

The relocation of youth clubs to Brook Way was the brainchild of Cllr Brian Hopkinson, who did not attend the latest meeting.

Related links:

• Youth Clubs in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Netball in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Slimming Clubs in Bradley Stoke (THe Journal)

The recent relocation of all Bradley Stoke youth clubs to the Brook Way Activity Centre has led to a “confrontation” between youth workers and members of a local netball club (believed to be The Black and Blues), according to Bradley Stoke Town Council.

The news is revealed in the recently published ‘draft’ minutes of a meeting of the Council’s Finance and Leisure Committee, held on Wednesday 21st October.

The committee chose to discuss an agenda item entitled ‘Community Centre Usage’ in closed session, meaning that the press and public were excluded from proceedings.

The minutes reveal that the confrontation occurred on 7th October, the first Wednesday after the youth club relocation on Monday 5th October.

The incident appears to have centred around  netballers entering the centre to shelter from bad weather and organise sign ups for the new season.

Youth workers “mindful of [child protection] legislation” are said to have expressed concern over the large number of netballers in the building alongside “the youth” (as the Town Clerk affectionately refers to the young people of our town).

Council members heard that the youth club may have been understaffed on the night in question due to the earlier resignation of a youth leader and absence of other youth workers due to holidays.

Concern was expressed over the general lack of youth supervision and a report that “boys and girls had been seen emerging from the same toilets”.

The incident is said to have led to acrimonious correspondence between youth workers and the netball club over the use of the centre’s toilets.

Councillors agreed that youth workers (or any other hirers) have no right to demand terms and conditions of other hirers of the centre and that in future the netballers should use the disabled toilets, leaving the other toilets for the sole use of “the youth”.

Related links:

• Bradley Stoke Youth Clubs (The Journal)
• Netball in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

The Journal has learned that local charity Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP) has been successful in its bid to retain the contract for youth work provision in Bradley Stoke.

Youth work in the town was thrown into confusion late last year when Bradley Stoke Town Council decided to terminate its direct relationship with SBCP and instead work “in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC)” to provide youth work in the town.

Conservative Councillors had for some time been been critical of SBCP’s performance, with Cllr Brian Hopkinson describing the number of youths engaged as “abysmal”.

The Town Council had initially wanted to introduce the new arrangements in April 2009, but was later advised by SGC’s Youth Service that the proposed timescale was unrealistic. Councillors then considered appointing their own youth leader to cover the interim period until a new contract could be put in place.

An Extraordinary Meeting of BSTC on 25th February 2009 saw Councillors back-track on earlier discussions after they were petitioned by young people who said they would be uncomfortable with a change of leadership at the town’s youth clubs. Councillors instead decided to extend SBCP’s contract until the end of September, when a provider appointed by SGC would take over.

A lengthy tendering process for the new contract is believed to have attracted just a single bidder and it is hardly a surprise to learn that the (now successful) candidate was SBCP.

Julie Snelling, Director of SBCP, told The Journal:

Southern Brooks Community Partnership is delighted to have secured the contract to deliver youth work in Bradley Stoke for the next three and a half years, subject to ratification by the town council. We look forward to working closely with South Gloucestershire Youth Service and the town council to develop a new youth centre at Brook Way Community Centre from October.

The charity is now advertising for a full-time Youth Work Manager in Bradley Stoke and is offering a salary “from £35,777″. There is also a vacancy for a part-time Youth Work Admin Support Worker. More details on the Vacancies page of the SBCP website.

A closed meeting of Bradley Stoke Town Council’s Youth Sub-Committee will tonight confirm whether or not toddler groups and other daytime users will be allowed to continue to use Brook Way Activity Centre after the town’s youth clubs relocate to the centre in July.

A statement that day-time users would have to quit, made by Town Clerk David Chandler at April’s Finance & Leisure Committee meeting, was later retracted at the Annual Town Meeting in May.

That meeting heard Cllr Mark Forsyth apologise to leaders of a Brook Way toddler group, who said they had raised a 251-signature petition against eviction.

Cllr Forsyth told that meeting that the council “would not want to see youth work impact on daytime users” and claimed it “never intended” to stop daytime users from being able to hire the centre.

But now it seems that this was not the last word on the matter and tonight’s meeting will once again discuss the thorny topic.

The involvement of Patchway Town Council (PTC) in the youth club project was thrown into doubt when a meeting of its Finance Committee heard that councillors had “many concerns”, noting that it would “set a precedent if one parish charged another for its residents to use a community facility”. The PTC Finance Committee was due to discuss the matter again at a meeting last night (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, the process of awarding a new contract for the supply of youth work in Bradley Stoke has moved on a step, with the publication of an “invitation for initial expressions of interest” by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

SGC now says it expects the new contract will be in place by November, although it is understood that the move to Brook Way is still planned to take place in July.

Related Links:

• Agenda for June 2009 Youth Sub-Ctte meeting (BSTC) [MS Word]
• Minutes of April 2009 F&L Committee meeting (BSTC) [MS Word]
• Invitation for initial expressions of interest (SBCP) [MS Word]