Peterborough City Council to place bid for brand new youth centre to reduce crime and poor mental health

Peterborough City Council will bid for Government funding to set-up a new ‘Youth Zone’ in the city in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour and poor mental health.

The provision will look at providing the youth of Peterborough with a brand new service which shall offer a wide range of activities, personal development opportunities and varies levels of support.

A typical Youth Zone runs seven evenings a week, has anywhere up to 4,000 members with as many as 100-250 young people visiting each evening.

A number of possible locations for the Youth Zone have been identified as part of the initial process.

Those include: Wellington Street Car Park, Dickens Street Car Park, Stanley Park, the Embankment East (next to regional pool), Bishops Road Car Park/Vineyard Road vicinity, Riverside Carpark vicinity, Fletton Quays area and the Pleasure Fair Car Park.

The funding application – up to £8.7 million – for the project will be made through to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport’s ‘Youth Investment Fund’ which is part of a £368 million capital fund available in bids of between £3-4 million at a time.

‘Enhance opportunities’

Councillor Lynne Ayres, Peterborough City Council Cabinet Member for children’s services, education, skills, and the university, said: “This is a chance to enhance the opportunities we can offer to all young people in Peterborough and shows our commitment to exploring existing initiatives which inspire young people to meet their own potential.

“We’ve put together a lot of work to prepare our initial funding bid, and we know ‘OnSide’ has a proven track record of delivering successful Youth Zones in other areas. Peterborough is a priority area for this Government, and we will await to hear if our bid has been successful.”

This is Phase 2 of the Youth Investment Fund (2022/23 to 2024/25) and will provide up to 300 facilities across the UK.

The proposed Peterborough Youth Zone would be a place for young people aged 11 to 18 (and up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).

Certain location requirements are needed to be met for a successful project and these must include: being neutral in terms of areas and communities; having prominence to attract young people into the building from the street; and to be centrally located for accessibility by young people on foot, bike, or bus.

‘Bring brighter futures’

Peterborough Youth Council has also shown its support for the introduction of a Youth Zone, highlighting the benefits they have brought in other parts of the country in helping young people feel more engaged in their communities (which brings a reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour), learn new skills, and find career opportunities, and improve their mental health.

It said: “We believe the positive impact of such a space in Peterborough would be priceless and would bring brighter presents, brighter futures and greater joy for young people across Peterborough.”

The cost to run a Youth Zone is in the region of £1.3 million per annum and it is expected that the council will make a proposed contribution towards this of 15 per cent or £200,000 per year.

The capital cost to the council has so far been indicated at £950,000 however, Onside have advised that it is likely that an additional project cost in the region of £1 million may be incurred.

It has asked if the council will underwrite this by using its shared prosperity fund bid to cover the first-year contribution of £200,000 (meaning local authority contributions would start from April 2026).

The government Youth Investment Fund portal opened in August 2022, and Onside have advised Peterborough City Council that to have the best opportunity for a successful bid an ‘expression of interest’ in partnership with Onside should be lodged at the earliest opportunity, likely to be October or November 2022.