WILTSHIRE Council says it has spent almost £70,000 in the past year to support youth related projects and initiatives in Westbury following concerns over the high levels of deprivation in the town.
The council says that the Oldfield Park and Penleigh estates are two areas in Westbury with some of the statistically highest levels of deprivation in the county and they have engaged in a number of projects to combat this. Wiltshire Council offers grant money to support local projects through its Area Boards and one of the priorities this year for the Westbury Area Board was to combat child poverty in the town.
Cllr Laura Mayes, cabinet member for children’s services at Wiltshire Council, said, “Westbury Area Board has been working on a number of initiatives and projects in the Westbury area to try to combat deprivation.
“One of the challenges we face is ensuring we get the right support to the right people so that any programmes and initiatives we provide and coordinate have a positive impact. We’ll continue to work hard to identify the opportunities and areas we know would make a difference and where we think the take-up would be sufficient.
Support for projects
“A combination of the £12.8k annual youth budget and around £54.5k in match funding from other sources has been used to support projects such as 4Youth, who offer street-based youth work around the town, Westbury Youth Club and counselling projects run by Crosspoint Westbury.
“The area board team has also helped the Westbury Area Network to access funding from two tranches of the Household Support Fund which equalled around £5k in total. We will continue to work with the network to access the next round of funding which they will look to use to provide additional services within the food bank.”
Wiltshire Council also says it has provided funding for Leigh Park Community Centre’s Youth Project which provides monthly employment and information workshops for young people, the drop-in youth café at All Saints’ Church Parish Hall, as well as part funding a team to enter this year’s White Horse Soapbox Derby.
Free event
Wiltshire Council and Westbury town councillor, Matthew Dean, who was the lead councillor for combatting child poverty priority at the Westbury Area Board for the past year, says that as well as funding vital services through the Area Board, he also received funding to organise a Market Place concert as part of the King Charles III coronation celebrations to provide a free event for people to enjoy.
“One of the big things I focussed on in the past year was to hold a free event in the Market Place so that everyone could come together and enjoy a night of free and good quality music at no expense,” he explained.
“I felt this was particularly needed as with the rising cost of everything young people and families with young people may not have been able to enjoy nights out or events such as this if it meant spending money, but the concert was completely free to attend and it certainly proved popular with families.
“Through the Area Board we have also provided some funding to the Westbury Youth Club to help them with their activities as we know just how much pressure the club has been under financially. We’ve also provided money so youth workers can go out into the community and engage with young people and to give them some positive things to do and to reduce the chance of young people engaging in anti-social behaviour.
“The Area Board is here to support things that are already there but it has limited funds so we have to be particular with what we do with that funding so we thought that giving money via grants to organisations such as 4Youth who actively engage with young people in the town and to support this with a free event that everyone could enjoy was a good use of the money.”
To find out more about 4Youth services visit: www.4youth.org.uk. More information on Crosspoint counselling service can be found by visiting: www. crosspoint-westbury.co.uk/
The drop-in youth café at All Saints’ Parish Hall will take place every Friday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm from September and you can join the waiting list for the Westbury Youth Club at ‘Westbury Youth Club’ on Facebook.
For more information on the food bank and community fridge visit: www.westburyareanetwork.org and to find out more about the Leigh Park Community Centre Project visit www.lpccwestbury.org.uk/services
