Gildersome Youth Centre - public meeting report

I attended an excellent public meeting last night at Gildersome Youth Centre to discuss the future of the centre and a plan for the groups that presently use the centre if – as proposed by Labour Leeds City Council – it faces closure.

The work many groups at the Centre do is exceptionally important offering many opportunities for Gildersome Children and Young People. This includes the Scouting and Guiding movements, Youth Service and Child Care Groups. We value the work they all do and we have pledged to find them alternative accommodation within the village.

Our present proposal is an extended Meeting Hall on Town Street in Gildersome. There is room behind the Meeting Hall to extend and this would mean we have an improved facility with long term sustainability instead of running two centres which we will struggle to do with present financial challenges we face.

Many of the groups have an attachment to the Youth Centre on Street Lane but years of underinvestment by Leeds City Council have left it in a poor state and the money isn’t around to modernise it. Our plan would mean that money received form the sale of the Youth Centre would be used to improve the Meeting Hall with extensions where necessary and other improvements – such as an improved toilet block – being part of the plan.

Our plan goes to Executive Board for approval at the end of March with an early meeting in April with user groups to look at what their needs are and to come up with a plan for the building which will cover all those needs.

My colleague Cllr Bob Gettings opened this building over 40 years ago as a Gildersome Youth Worker and it has served the community well. We are giving up the Youth Centre with heavy hearts but the proposal we are working on will deliver an improved and sustainable community centre which should last for the next 40 years.