Decision justified by the need for housing and plans for new facility
Protesters outside the Town Hall prior to the meeting. Picture: Young Ealing Foundation
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Campaigners have acted with anger and dismay to the decision by Ealing Council’s cabinet to proceed with the demolition of the Young Adults Centre (YAC) site in Southall.
A petition with over 3,000 signatures was presented to the meeting this Tuesday (19 October) after a protest was held outside the Town Hall by the Young Ealing Champions who have been attempting to stop the closure.
The council responded to the petition by saying that the site had been earmarked for development into housing since 2016 and the need for affordable homes was urgent. Around 60 new housing units would be built on the site which the council says will be family sized homes.
The cabinet announced plans to invest proceeds from the sale into new youth facilities including a replacement youth centre, as well as investment in interim youth facilities at Dormers Wells and the Dominion Centre while it is being built.
The council says it will work closely with young people to develop both the interim and permanent ways forward for a new location for the new youth service in Southall, which will be located near to the current YAC.
Ealing Young Champion Lily presents the petition. Picture: Young Ealing Foundation
Councillor Peter Mason, leader of the council, said, “I’d like to thank the young people who presented the petition for making the case so brilliantly for high-quality youth services in Southall. We agree with them, and we know that many people have a strong attachment to the existing Young Adult Centre in Southall.
“We’re pledging to invest in Southall’s young people and provide even better youth facilities in a relocated YAC because we know how important youth services are. Thousands of people throughout the borough have benefitted from the services, counselling, safety and friendship the current centre has provided over the years, and we want future generations to enjoy state of the art facilities in a new YAC.”
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, cabinet member for a fairer start, said, “This is a really exciting once in a generation opportunity for Southall’s young people to work with us to design brand new youth facilities that work for them.
“We want to invest in a state of the art youth centre in Southall, adaptable for different age groups participating in varied activities and with access to safe open space. It will be large enough for use by groups of up to 50 young people, and it will have all the facilities that local schools need for Duke of Edinburgh sessions and more. We’re looking forward to getting started designing a youth centre with young people, for young people.”
Councillor Shital Manro, cabinet member for good growth, added, “Southall has an urgent need for new genuinely affordable family sized homes, with around 60 able to be provided on the YAC site. We’ll be consulting on those proposals once we have an agreed approach that will ensure that there is no break in the provision of high-quality youth facilities for Southall.”
Councillor David Millican, Conservative Spokesperson on Children’s and Youth Services, said, “The Labour administration is demonstrating they are tone-deaf. The over 3,000 young people who took the time to sign a petition to save their Young Adult Centre want their current centre to remain. Unbelievably Ealing Council are proposing building a new youth centre on invaluable green space in Southall Park, so they can knock down the perfectly good youth centre to build more flats. So the Council are swopping green space for housing.
“A new youth centre will take years to build and in the meanwhile the council are proposing temporary sites which they admit would be too small.
“The few housing units that will be placed on the site will not make up displacing all the young people who go through the centre doors to find sanctuary. This is yet another example of Labour decimating services that matter to people.”
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October 21, 2021
