OnSide announces plans for further youth zone in London
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
A new £6.5m youth zone will be built in north London, the charity behind the initiative has announced.
Charity OnSide Youth Zones said Haringey Council has approved proposals for the a state-of-the-art centre to be built in Wood Green offering activities in sports, arts, music, employability and mentoring for young people aged eight to 19, or up to 25 for those with a disability.
A new locally-led charity will be established to run the new venue, with a team of youth and activity workers. A total of £3m of the capital cost of creating the youth zone will be funded by the council, while charitable funders will provide the remaining £3.5m.
The council will also contribute £250,000 per year towards running costs, with OnSide working to secure the first three years' £950,000 annual revenue costs in full, prior to opening, through a combination of private sector support and charitable trusts and grants.
Jamie Masraff, project director at OnSide Youth Zones said: "Youth zones are safe, inspiring and affordable places for young people to spend their leisure time and we are delighted that Haringey Council has partnered with us to bring one of our facilities to the area.
"We will be working closely with the local community to ensure that the youth zone will support all young people from across the borough, including harder-to-reach young people, particularly those from deprived backgrounds. We have every confidence that this offer for young people will provide a transformational experience, supporting and enhancing the current youth provision in the community."
Haringey Council leader, Claire Kober, said: "This is a fantastic facility that will give young people from across Haringey the opportunity they deserve to access cutting-edge facilities that the council would simply be unable to provide without such an innovative partnership.
"I'm proud that we've been able to commit to making this investment in the borough's young people in addition to funding we already provide for other youth services in the borough."
OnSide currently has a network of 10 youth zones in; Bolton, Manchester, Oldham, Blackburn, Wigan, Carlisle, Warrington, Wolverhampton, Wirral and Chorley. Three more youth zones in Barking and Dagenham, Barnet and Croydon are set open in 2019 and a number of other projects are at various stages of planning.
