Children's minister Beverley Hughes has announced the 41 youth projects set to share £180m of Myplace funding, which aims to transform youth facilities across the country.
It means that there are now 62 new youth centre developments in the pipeline, given that in November last year, 21 projects received £62m from the fast-track funding stage. A further £30m will be handed out later this year.
Because of the quality of the bids, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) added an extra £70m to the original £110m set aside for this round of funding.
"This unprecedented investment will fund a new generation of places for young people to go with exciting activities on offer, like film making and music recording," explains Hughes.
Successful projects
The successful youth projects include a seashell-shaped building in Redcar that will house a hall, stage, beauty suite and IT facilities.
At the launch event in Hoxton Hall in Hackney in east London, one of the successful sites, young people involved in the winning bids showed off designs for the new facilities, while others worked the room as young journalists filming and photographing the event.
The five young committee members who helped decide which centres received the money answered questions and spoke about their experience.
Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, says: "The Myplace schemes show just what can be achieved when you involve young people and harness their imagination and creativity.
"The inspiring array of projects announced today rocket the notion of what a youth centre should be to a whole new level. With a truly awesome range of developments from creative arts to extreme sports backed up with help and support on some of the more sensitive health and emotional issues, these centres truly respond to what young people say they need."
Failed bids
Hughes says all the failed bids will receive feedback and will have another opportunity to reapply later in the year.
She adds: "We are making it very clear to local authorities and their partners that the onus is on them to make sure they start to develop services for all young people in their area.
"In some cases, young people feel they cannot go to certain youth centres or use certain facilities because they are going into a different postcode area, but the local authorities, police and parents have really got to tackle this because it is simply unacceptable.
"We are asking authorities to take a big step forward to overcome this, so young people can benefit from the investment and facilities that should be accessible to them all."
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION OF YOUTH CENTRES
The fact that young people have been involved in the development of these facilities is extremely important and will hopefully show young people that they are being listened to. These centres should make young people feel like they are wanted and are worth something" - Luke Wilkins, 16, Myplace committee member
"Because it is by the sea we wanted it to fit in with the landscape so the shape of the building is the same as a shell. Most youth centres just have rooms where you go and hang out and talk. It is great we are going to have a place for kids to go and enjoy things they really like" - Daniel Shields, 14, who helped design Tuned In, the Redcar youth centre
"Hoxton Hall is a brilliant place for young people. It has a real buzz about it and great things going on. But there are still too many areas like mine in south London that have nothing like this. We need to get places like this all over the country. Young people have fantastic ideas but we need to make them heard" - Meadbh Dempsey, 16, Lewisham, young reporter
"For me the successful bids had to have a good partnership between the private and third sectors and local authorities. They proved there had been good consultation and involvement of young people, provided a range of services and demonstrated how they could change young people's lives" - Ahmed Shazad, 23, Myplace committee member
PROJECTS SHARING THE POUNDS 180M ANNOUNCED IN MARCH 2009
01 Aston £5m Integrating Youth Project
02 Bath £2m Southside Regeneration Youth Project
03 Blackburn £5m Blackburn Youth Zone
04 Blackpool £4m Southpoint - The Blackpool Youth Hub Centre
05 Bognor £1.5m The Phoenix Centre
06 Bradford £5m Culture Fusion
07 Brent £5m The Roundwood Centre
08 Bristol £5m Myplace Bristol
09 Coventry £2.2m The Y - Stoke Inspiration Centre Aldermoor
10 Doncaster £5m Myplace in Doncaster
11 Hackney £5m Hackney's Youth Hubbz
12 Halton £2.5m The Buzz
13 Harrow £4.2m The Pitch - A Place To Go
14 Hastings £4.2m Hastings Youth Hub
15 Havering £4.7m Dream Street
16 Hemel Hempstead £5m ExtremeConnexions
17 Islington £3.5m Hornsey Road Baths Youth Centre
18 Knowsley £5m OurPlace
19 Leicester £5m Leicester City Youth Hub
20 Lincoln £4.8m The Showroom
21 Longbridge £5m Youth Centreprise
22 Manchester £5m Manchester Youth Zone
23 Mansfield £5m Westfield Folk House Young People's Centre
24 Middlesborough £4.3m Middlesborough Myplace at the Custom House
25 Newcastle £4.9m Myplace@Vine Lane
26 N'castle- £4.4m Chesterton's Vision
under-lyme
27 Newham £5m Plashet Young People's Hub
28 Nottingham £4.9m The NGY
29 Oldham £5m Oldham Youth Zone
30 Redcar £4.9m Tuned In
31 Rotherham £3.4m Rotherham Myplace
32 Sheffield £2.1m The People's Place
33 Shropshire £3.9m TeenSpace Shrewsbury, TeenSpace Oswestry
34 Solihull £5m Myplace in Solihull
35 Stockton £5m Inspiration, Creativity And Entertainment
Centre
36 Suffolk £4.8m The Xchange Project
37 Thamesmead £5m Thamesmead Youth Leisure Zone
38 Torbay £4.9m Parkfield
39 Toxteth £2.3m Toxteth Youth and Sports Centre
40 Trafford £5m Trafford Youth Village
41 Wakefield £5m The Hut - One Hut, Five Towns, Many Talents
PROJECTS SHARING THE POUNDS 62M ANNOUNCED IN NOVEMBER 2008
01 Barnard Castle £4.95m The Hub
02 Bermondsey £1.12m The Salmon Youth Centre
03 Bournemouth £1.3m The Primetime Project
04 Bridgwater £3.92m Access All Areas
05 Camden £1.5m New Horizon Youth Centre
06 Carlisle £4.98m Carlisle Youth Zone
07 Chesterfield £3.11m My Place Chesterfield
08 Dartford £2.2m The Hub
09 Dawlish £1.7m Dawlish Integrated Youth Centre
10 Enfield £2.17m TaB Centre Plus
11 Hartlepool £4.52m New Life Centre
12 Leeds £4.98m The Big Hub
13 Leicestershire £4.51m Hinckley Club for Young People
14 Minehead £3.16m Minehead Eye
15 Norwich £1.26m Open Centre Project
16 Oxford £1.8m The Pegasus Theatre Project
17 Pendle £1.34m Bradley Youth Hub
18 Shoeburyness £2.99m Shoeburyness Youth Centre
19 Stoke-on-Trent £4.8m The Young Person's Village
20 Sutton £4.08m The Sutton Life Centre
21 Walsall £1.29m The Green Rivers Centre
