The 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group has announced the formation of a new Explorer Scout Unit for young people aged 14 to 18.

The unit held its first meeting on Friday 6th January and will now meet regularly on Friday nights from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Brook Way Activity Centre.

Together with its two Beaver Colonies, two Cub Packs and two Scout Troops, the local Scout Group can now offer activities for young people across the full 6 to 18 age range.

Since January, all sections of the group have relocated to the Brook Way Activity Centre, which became vacant after Bradley Stoke Town Council and South Gloucestershire Council cut funding for the youth club that had previously been run there by Southern Brooks Community Partnership.

Mark Gollop, Group Scout Leader, said:

“We look forward to the new Bradley Stoke Explorer Scout Unit growing in strength and numbers as our new Cub Pack and Scout Troop did last year.”

The group says it currently has around 150 names on its ‘want to join’ list. In order to accommodate more young people, the group is seeking to recruit new adult volunteers. Anyone interested is asked to get in touch through the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group website.

Related link: Youth organisations in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

Spending on youth provision by Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) looks set to be slashed by 39% from April if draft budget plans are approved at a meeting next week.

The news comes as young people await the outcome of a two month consultation into ‘youth needs’ in the town that was run by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) during November and December last year.

The Town Council agreed a budget of £61,500 for ‘youth funding’ in 2011/2012 – with all of this amount being paid to Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP), the organisation contracted to run the town’s sole youth club at the Brook Way Activity Centre.

In July 2011, the two Councils decided they weren’t happy with the way the club was being run and SBCP’s contract was terminated, leading to 13 youth workers being issued with redundancy notices.

The youth club was closed towards the end of October and since then SGC youth workers have been providing an interim programme of youth activities, including ‘detached’ work to engage young people on the streets.

The Town Council’s budget for ‘youth funding’ in the coming financial year has now been set, subject to final approval, at a similar figure of £60,000.

But it appears that the Council has quietly “absorbed” the costs of other youth-related budget items into the ‘youth funding’ category, leaving just £37,455 available for whatever the two Councils decide should replace the axed youth club.

The “absorbed” items include £8,400 paid to a security firm to lock the gates of the Skate Park every night (a requirement of the lease), £4,000 to fund the lease and running costs of a minibus (purchased jointly with BSCS in February last year year) to ferry young people to the now defunct Brook Way Youth Club, £5,000 paid into reserves for future repairs of the Skate Park and £1,200 for youth activities at the Bradley Stoke Community Festival.

The Council also plans to fund a new £10,000 ‘youth service level agreement budget’ and a new £5,000 ‘youth grant budget’ out of the £60,000 but £3,945 of the former is to be used to fund agreements with Bradley Stoke Youth FC and Freespace (a summer holiday activity scheme) – expenditure previously outside of the ‘youth funding budget’.

The net result, using a ‘like-with-like’ comparison, is a reduction in funding of £24,045, i.e. 39% of the previous year’s budget.

Young people hoping for a possible re-opening of a traditional youth club in the town are likely to be disappointed. On 21st October 2011, before the much vaunted youth needs’ consultation had even begun, a special meeting of the Town Council agreed to lease the main rooms at Brook Way Activity Centre to the 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group, with effect from 7th November and lasting until 31st March 2013.

The idea of moving the Scout Group into Brook Way had been first proposed by Cllr Ben Walker at a Full Council meeting on 21st September, where he suggested that the group (one of his mayoral charities for 2011/2012) be offered a rent set at 50% of what they were currently paying to hire rooms at Holy Trinity Church and Bradley Stoke Community School. The only voice of dissent came from Cllr Rob Jones, who warned that offering such a heavily subsidised rent to the Scouts would set a “dangerous precedent” that might lead to other hirers demanding similar terms.

Inspiration for the Council’s swing towards supporting uniformed youth groups looks to have come from Cllr Walker’s political companion Jack Lopresti MP, who advocated membership of groups like the Scouts and St John Ambulance in a press release put out following a parliamentary debate on the response to the summer riots.

Representatives of those two youth organisations were duly wheeled in to give presentations to the November meeting of the Bradley Stoke Safer and Stronger Communities Group, which is now chaired by a Conservative Town Councillor after SBCP’s Julie Close, who had led the group for many years, declined to seek re-election.

Photo: Mayor Ben Walker officially opens a new Cub pack and Scout troop at Bradley Stoke Community School in April 2011.

Footnote: The BSTC 2nd Draft Budget for 2012/2013 can be viewed in Appendix A of the draft minutes of a meeting of the BSTC Finance Committee held on 21st December 2011. Item 5078 contains a breakdown of ‘youth funding’.

South Gloucestershire Council and the Town Council are reminding local youngsters about the ‘Youth Needs Survey‘ currently being conducted in Bradley Stoke.

The consultation was started after the two Councils jointly decided to close the town’s only youth club at the Brook Way Activity Centre with effect from the end of October, a move which led to Southern Brooks Community Partnership having to make 13 youth workers redundant.

Interim measures put in place by South Gloucestershire Youth Services since the beginning of November have seen youth workers engaging with youngsters on the streets and the staging of organised sessions including DJ-ing, circus skills, skating, football and music.

To help encourage young people to give their views, an event was recently organised at Bradley Stoke Skate Park, where youth workers gave out copies of the survey to help promote the consultation.

The consultation is open to all 10 to 19-year-olds who live in Bradley Stoke and it runs until 17th December.

Cllr Sheila Cook, executive member for children and young people, said:

“Your answers are important to us because it means that we can use them to shape new services that appeal to more of you and provide something for everyone to enjoy.”

Cllr Ben Walker, the Mayor of Bradley Stoke, said:

“This is the biggest and most in-depth consultation about the provision of youth services ever undertaken in Bradley Stoke and the Town Council are proud to be at the forefront of progressive provision based around feedback from its users.”

“Along with South Gloucestershire Council, we look to ensure youth provision exists for all the different elements of the community, making something accessible for all of interest to them.”

Every young person who fills in a survey will be entered into a prize draw with the chance to win an ipod nano or cinema tickets.

Photo (L-R): Kyle Hall, Bronwen Fowler, Sam West (youth worker standing in van), Sam Beaumont, Josh Holbrook, Reggie Hall and Sasha Frampton (centre, with basketball).

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) has revealed details of the interim youth provision measures it has put in place following its decision, jointly with Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC), to close the Brook Way Youth Club at the end of last month.

Youth workers will be going out onto the streets on three nights a week to engage with young people congregating at places such as the skate park and the Willow Brook Centre.

The street work will be supplemented by six hours of activity sessions each week – including DJ’ing, football and young women’s projects – taking place at Baileys Court Activity Centre and Bradley Stoke Community School.

Catherine Challinor, a full time youth worker for SGC, said the programme would remain in place until Christmas, after which it might be reviewed following feedback from service users.

Having taken the decision, back in July, to close the Brook Way Youth Club, the Councils have now finally opened a public consultation to ask young people which activities they would like to see provided in the local area. The survey, dubbed “the largest, most in depth consultation regarding youth provision in Bradley Stoke” by Mayor Ben Walker in a recent Town Council newsletter, was supposed to start in September but finally got underway on 1st November.

The Bradley Stoke Youth Needs Survey 2011 runs until 17th December. SGC says it will publish the results of the consultation by the end of January 2012 on its Youth Unlimited website.

Reasons for closure never properly explained

The reasons for closing the Brook Way Youth Club have not been revealed in any formal documents published by the two councils. The only explanation to surface is in an letter put out by SBCP on 1st August:

“Unfortunately we have been informed that the Town Council and South Gloucestershire Youth Service are not satisfied with the delivery of youth work in Bradley Stoke. We have failed to work with the numbers of young people that they were hoping for, or to engage as fully as they would have liked us to.”

Draft minutes of the BSTC Full Council meeting on 13th July 2011 stated simply that a discussion on “Youth Provision in Bradley Stoke” was “CONFIDENTIAL”. Mayor Ben Walker explained at the subsequent Youth Committee meeting on 15th August that this had been necessary “in order to ensure confidentiality … when people’s jobs and livelihoods are at stake”, referring, it is believed, to the possibility that SBCP might need to make youth workers redundant as a result of the decision.

By the time the minutes came to be approved at the next meeting of BSTC’s Full Council in September, SBCP had notified its employees and begun a formal employee consultation period, but the Council still chose not to release further details in the final version of the July minutes.

A source at SBCP has since confirmed that 13 of its employees (one full-time and 12 part-time) were made redundant as a result of the Bradley Stoke youth work contract being terminated.

The final meeting of the Brook Way Youth Club took place on 20th October, when 70 young people were presented with certificates of achievement.

Shouldn’t consultation have been done first? – asks Councillor

The Council’s decision to close the Brook Way Youth Club before starting a consultation exercise with the young people who attend it was questioned by Cllr Tom Aditya at the Youth Committee Meeting in August. Cllr Aditya, who is also an SBCP trustee, was reminded by Mayor Ben Walker that the agenda item – “Update on Youth Provision in Bradley Stoke” – was “an update, not a discussion”.

The troubled recent history of Brook Way Activity Centre

The youth club’s move to Brook Way in 2009 meant that a number of community hirers were forced to find other accommodation in the town. Once the youth club was up and running, local residents complained of anti-social behaviour, particularly on and around the outside sports court at the centre. Two incidents of suspected sabotage – the cutting of power cables and the felling of a floodlight column – were investigated by police but no charges were ever brought.

The Town Council has now re-opened Brook Way Activity Centre to general hirers, following a £20,300 one-week refurbishment, and is currently offering a 10% discount on new bookings.

Photo: Happier days in 2010, when Councillors welcomed the youth club to Brook Way.

Related links:

• Children & Young People in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)
• Minutes of Town Council Meetings (BSTC)

Youth clubs in Bradley Stoke are once again facing an uncertain future after local Councils informed the current service provider that they are to withdraw funding from 31st October.

An announcement posted on the website of Southern Brooks Community Partnership (the current provider) earlier this week explains that the Town Council and South Gloucestershire Youth Service have informed the organisation that they are not satisfied with the delivery of youth work in Bradley Stoke:

“We have failed to work with the numbers of young people that they were hoping for, or to engage as fully as they would have liked us to. While both Councils acknowledge that there has been some really good youth work, including the recent residential, they have decided to withdraw funding from Southern Brooks Community Partnership from October 31st 2011.”

SBCP has been delivering youth work in Bradley Stoke for over ten years but its relationship with the Town Council has often been a troubled one. In late 2008, the Council decided it wished to terminate its direct relationship with SBCP and instead work “in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC)” to provide youth work in the town. The re-think came after one Councillor described the number of youths being engaged by SBCP as “abysmal”.

A lengthy tendering process for a contract governed by the revised working arrangements led to SBCP being re-appointed to run the service until the end of 2012.

Signs that all was not well in the working relationship between the Councils and SBCP surfaced in April when an SGC report described youth club attendance by 13-19 year olds as “very low”. The paper was also critical of SBCP’s inadequate reporting of data to SGC and concern was expressed that Patchway Baptist Church seemed to be no longer contributing to the delivery of youth work (as required by the commissioning agreement).

A meeting of the Town Council on 13th July saw the press and public excluded from discussions on two topics titled “SGC/BSTC Youth Monitoring Arrangements” and “Youth Provision in Bradley Stoke”, a move justified by Mayor Ben Walker on the grounds of their “sensitive and confidential nature”.

The minutes of the July meeting give no clue as to what was discussed or decided during the closed sessions, both items being annotated as “CONFIDENTIAL”.

The Town Council itself has not formally announced the premature termination of the youth work contract but when The Journal asked for a statement, the five Bradley Stoke Town Councillors who also sit on SGC offered the following:

“As both South Gloucestershire District and Bradley Stoke Town Councillors, we have become increasingly dissatisfied that the current provision seems able to regularly engage with only a fraction of the town’s young people, despite a great deal of investment and promotion over recent years.”

“Such questionable value for money goes against both the spirit and letter of the service level agreement that both councils had jointly agreed with SBCP.”

“We need to know why so many young people choose not to make use of what is currently on offer to them and that’s why an engagement strategy is planned to find out what services for young people in Bradley Stoke should look like in the future.”

“Our priority is to ensure as seamless a transition as possible to a refreshed youth provision that appeals not only to the limited number of young people who make use of it at the moment, but to the rest of our town’s young population who choose currently to give it a miss.”

In its announcement, SBCP says it will continue to deliver the existing service for the next three months and work with young people who currently attend the centre to make sure that they are aware of other provision they can attend. The article concludes:

“Our immediate concern is to assure parents, families and young people that the termination of this contract does not mean that funding for youth work in Bradley Stoke is being withdrawn. We are confident that the Town Council and the Youth Service is committed to providing for the needs of the large population of young people in Bradley Stoke, and in the meantime will ensure that some provision is in place from November.”

Footnote: In February, SGC voted to put an extra £58k into youth provision in Bradley Stoke for the financial year 2011/2012 following lobbying by local Councillors, who claimed that the town was getting a poor deal compared to others in the district. We are yet to hear how the Councils will utilise this extra money.

Photo: Happier times at the Brook Way Youth Club – young people join Jack Lopresti MP in promoting the BB4FABS Better Broadband campaign.

The 1st Bradley Stoke Scout Group has opened a second Cub pack and Scout troop after seeing a huge rise in the number of youngsters wanting to join.

The group has seen membership rocket to over 100 children across its Beaver, Cub and Scout sections over the past year.

On Thursday evening last week, the town’s Mayor, Cllr Ben Walker, officially opened the group’s second Scout troop at Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS), giving more youngsters the chance to join.

This follows the opening of a second Beaver colony (at Holy Trinity School) last September and, since half term, a second Cub pack (at BSCS).

There has been a group meeting at Holy Trinity School for the last ten years with lengthy waiting lists to join. However, the recent success in recruiting adult volunteers, has enabled the group to double the number of sections, three of which now meet at BSCS.

The increase in numbers reflects the growing popularity of the Scout Association nationally.

Clive Mason (Group Chairman) said:

“‘The expansion of the group is obviously great news and allows us to provide Scouting for even more girls and boys in the Bradley Stoke community.”

“Nonetheless, we still have waiting lists and we would love to hear from any adult volunteers who may be interested in helping out.”

“Take a look at our latest fantastic recruitment video on YouTube to see what we’re up to now!”

For general enquiries about the Scout Group contact: Mark Gollop (Group Scout Leader) on 0117 965 3244 or mark.gollop@avonscouts.org.uk.

For details on how to join as a young person contact: Ian Bakewell (Waiting List Coordinator) on 01454 610038 or ianbakewell@btinternet.com.

Photo: Front row (L-R): Ben Mason (8), Mark Gollop (Group Scout Leader), Cllr Ben Walker and Tash Mason(11).

Related links:

• Youth Organisations in Bradley Stoke
• Youth Clubs in Bradley Stoke

South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) ruling Cabinet has voted to put an extra £58k into youth provision in Bradley Stoke following lobbying by local Councillors, who claimed that the town was getting a poor deal compared to others in the district.

The decision, which must be ratified by Full Council on 23rd February, came after extra money became available because of the lower than expected cost of the Council’s recently introduced Youth Unltd concessionary transport scheme.

True to form, Monday’s Cabinet meeting was followed within hours by press releases from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, each claiming credit for the “youth funding boost”.

The Liberal Democrats’ Jon Williams is quoted as saying:

“Bradley Stoke is one of the lowest funded areas of South Gloucestershire for youth work, despite having the highest number of young people, so I am delighted that my persistence has paid off.”

Conservative Rob Jones had a rather different view, commenting:

“Where the LibDems failed, we have succeeded – but it’s the town’s young people who are the real winners from this announcement.”

Cllr Williams’ exclusion from talks on youth funding between Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) and SGC last year led to him branding Conservative Mayor Ben Walker “dictatorial”.

Minutes of a BSTC Full Council meeting held in private on 6th October last year suggest that Cllr Williams attempted to disrupt the talks at SGC by arranging his own meeting with the Director of Children & Young People at the same time as the Mayor’s meeting.

Asked yesterday whether the whole of the extra £58k from SGC would be spent on additional youth work provision, as opposed to being used to reduce the Town Council’s contribution, a BSTC spokesperson declined to comment.

More information:

• Conservative press release [PDF]
• Liberal Democrat press release [PDF]

St John Ambulance is looking for motivated and reliable adults to help run their recently opened Cadet division and help support the opening of a new Badger Sett in Stoke Gifford.

The roles suit people who get along well with children and young people, are creative and proactive.

The Cadets is a group for young people aged 10-17 years and the Badgers is a group for children aged 5-10 years.

The Cadets meet on Monday evenings and the group is already popular and well attended. We are hoping to open the Badger Sett as soon as possible and already have somebody lined up as a potential leader.

Our youth groups don’t just do first aid, they can do all sorts of things like photography, sports, health, creative activities, camps and all sorts of things.

If you are interested, please contact Michelle for more info on: 0117 963 0197 or email: michelle.chatham@avon.sja.org.uk

A Bradley Stoke Town Councillor has branded the town’s Mayor “dictatorial” after he failed to invite other Councillors to a meeting with a senior official at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

Mayor Ben Walker met alone with SGC’s Director of Children and Young People to find out why Bradley Stoke receives significantly less from SGC than other towns in the district for the provision of youth services.

[Ed: We have since been told that the Mayor met with SGC officers rather than the Director; see comment below.]

Liberal Democrat Cllr Jon Williams says he found out about the meeting by chance and feels he should have been invited to attend, as he claims it was he who first questioned why Bradley Stoke gets such a “raw deal” from SGC.

“I think it’s ridiculous that our Mayor is taking a dictatorial approach so early in his year of office. By excluding other elected councillors from an important meeting with the Director of Children and Young People to discuss the level of funding for youth work in the town without a good reason, he obviously thinks he’s special.”

“As a result of his undemocratic attitude I have had to ask for an identical meeting with the Director immediately after his. This is a waste of the Director’s time but I have no option if I want to understand the funding issues.”

According to Cllr Williams, figures supplied by SGC show that they spend £93k in Filton, £84k in Patchway and £73k in Stoke Gifford – compared to just £33k in Bradley Stoke (which has the largest youth population in the area).

Cllr Williams told The Journal he believes Conservative-run SGC is resisting any redistribution of youth funding prior to the May 2011 elections, to avoid being accused of cutting youth services in other towns.

Council to meet behind closed doors to discuss youth funding

Told of Cllr Williams’s comments, Cllr Walker provided the following statement:

“The meeting was set up at my own request so I could understand a little more of the history behind SGC’s funding of youth provision in the town. It was not an official Council meeting and no decisions were made.”

“I now have some ideas that I’d like to share with Full Council and these will be revealed on Wednesday (tonight, 6th October). The press and public have been excluded as some of the information is potentially sensitive but will be released once discussed by Full Council.”

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.

Brian Hopkinson (pictured above, right), South Gloucestershire councillor for Bradley Stoke Central and Stoke Lodge, who helped draft the agreement as Chairman of BSTC’s Youth committee, said:

“It has been a hard slog for a number of us, but we think we have got an agreement which meets our high expectations and squeezes more value out of the money that both councils invest in ensuring that the town’s young people have access to positive activities.”

“We now have a centre complete with sports hard court facility that caters for a wide age range of local children and young people.”

“We hope to cultivate a safe Youth Café atmosphere where local youngsters can have fun, meet up with their friends, enjoy refreshments and have access to well structured positive activities that help them to achieve their goals in life.”

“This agreement sees regular performance monitoring so councillors and residents can be satisfied that ambitious goals are being achieved.”

Cllr John Calway (pictured above, left), leader of South Gloucestershire Council’s Conservative administration, added:

“More joined-up youth provision in the town ties in well with the council’s plan to roll-out the Conservatives’ flagship youth concessionary travel scheme later this year, which will offer more opportunities for young people to access leisure and recreational activities in the area, as well as employment.”

Not surprisingly, the press release put out by the SGC Conservative Group makes no mention of the “disappointment” expressed by Bradley Stoke Conservative Councillors over the proportion of the overall package being contributed by SGC.

The proposed SGC contribution of £33,000 p.a. was described as “very disappointing,” and “totally unacceptable” by Conservative Councillors at the December 2009 meeting of BSTC’s Finance Committee.

BSTC Councillors also complained that other parishes in South Gloucestershire receive “considerably more per head for youth than Bradley Stoke”. Yate, for example, is said to receive £167,000 compared to the £33,000 for Bradley Stoke.

The failure of Patchway Town Council (PTC) to contribute a promised £10,000 p.a. to the scheme, in recognition of the fact that a number of young people from Patchway attend the Brook Way youth club, has also riled Bradley Stoke Town Councillors.

More information: Youth Clubs in Bradley Stoke (The Journal)

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 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]

The proposed move of Bradley Stoke’s youth clubs to the Brook Way Activity Centre could lead to the closure of other community groups in the town according to Town Clerk David Chandler.

All youth clubs in the town are currently set to be transferred to the Brook Way site from 6th July 2009 following Bradley Stoke Town Council’s decision in December 2008  to enter into a “partnership agreement” with South Gloucestershire Council for the provision of youth work in the town.

Youth clubs in the town are currently run by Southern Brooks Community Partnership, but the contract is up for tender and a new agreement is set to come into force from 1st October 2009.

Mr Chandler told a recent meeting of the Council’s Finance & Leisure Committee that no other hirers will be able to use the Brook Way building once the youth club transfer has been effected in July. He explained that this was a “practical consideration” based on the fact that the youth clubs would want to install soft furnishings and a pool table and have posters about sensitive subjects on the walls.

Some groups currently using the centre might be unable to relocate and would therefore have to close, he warned.

The Council is now in the process of preparing a statement to existing hirers, some of which have bookings well over a year ahead, to inform them that they will be unable to continue at Brook Way after 3rd July 2009.

Block bookers of the hard courts at Brook Way, such as the Black and Blues Netball Club, will be allowed to continue, although no new bookings will be taken as the youth clubs also wish to make use of that facility.

It seems, however, that the Brook Way move is not yet a done deal as the meeting also heard that alternative venues for the youth club are still being investigated. A site in Great Park Road, adjacent to Butterflies Nursery, has been suggested and several Councillors have apparently been to view it.

Councillors decided to form the new sub-committee at a special meeting of Full Council on 25th February, in order to oversee how their “record funding” for youth work in the town is spent.

The agenda for today’s meeting includes the following items:

• To decide membership of the Youth Sub-Committee and any co-options
• To approve the terms of reference for the Sub-Committee
• To draw up an action plan for Youth Provision in Bradley Stoke

The press and public are invited to attend.