The Youth Miss Out Again!
Created by A YouthI was told last week, that the POD for Kingsway was well on its way to being installed next to the School… Hooray at last somewhere we can go in the evenings.
Now I have been told that the Developers have now pulled the plug on the site again.
What must we do?
We need somewhere to go in our area… Kingsway!
If anything happens on the site, we the (teenagers) get the blame, and are labelled with anti-social behaviour.
Come on Developers, we need this!
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April 8th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Hi “A Youth”
Thanks for joining and contributing
I was also told last week that the Youth Pod plans have taken a(nother) beating, sick news after all the efforts made to get things rolling and – last I heard – it was all set to go ahead this month (see my previous article on the subject – here).
What also bothered me is that I attended several meetings about the pod with numerous people (as listed in that post) and yet nobody told me about the latest delay… I found out from a 3rd party!
I’ve been a little busy on the personal front lately so haven’t followed up to find out the exact reasons (or what can be / is being done about it), but I will endeavour to find out as soon as I’m able.
You’re quite right… it is needed. There’s very little by way of amenities and facilities for Teenagers in Kingsway at present and although the economy is partly to blame (there are plans for a more interesting “activity area” which have been delayed because – I think – it will be in a spot not yet accessible), it’s so sad to think that The Pod has been bought and paid for and sitting in a car park since 2007!
Try not to take the “ASB” taunts personally, it only takes one or two to spoil it for everybody but only an idiot assumes all youths are alike (in any respect)!
Welcome aboard, it’s nice to (finally) get some younger input
April 8th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
This is just wrong. I will try and also find out what I can as to the reasons and what the remedy plan is. They can not just put a halt on it and expect us to wait forever.
I think this is very important as the vast majority of the “youth” on this estate are getting labelled with a bad name for no just reason and this POD, i hoped, was to be a catalyst for new things specifically aimed at the age group with nothing to do.
Here is to hoping this can be resolved.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Latest News:
Firstly thanks for your support.
I have an update for you all; I’ve been told that The Citizen will be next to Kingsway School tomorrow (Thursday 9th) at 1.30pm to get our input on why we need a POD.
If you can come along PLEASE… We need your support.
Hope to see you there!
April 9th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Noooooo… I have a real busy day tomorrow (and 2 kids to look after) but I’ll try real hard to get there if I can (assuming I can ever get to bed that is)!
April 9th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Well… I was at the School in time, along with Jackie Hall, Shiela Golder, Sue Pixel (Equals Youth Worker) and some local youths, so you’ll probably catch the pictures in the Citizen in the near future.
With regard to the Pod, I spoke to Jackie and Shiela and – on returning home – also received an email from Andrew Hunter (QUVL) with an invitation to call him about it (so I did)!
Jackie and Shiela said that that they asked the QUVL to site the Pod on the land immediately adjacent to the School entrance (in front of the planned Community Centre and Pub’) and everything was set to go ahead until last week, when the QUVL met and rejected the proposal (as you say: “pulled the plug”).
According to Andrew Hunter, previous plans were to site the Pod on the School land, (which has already been passed over to the County Council and so is their property).
Andrew said that planning permission to site the Pod on the School land was approved “a long time ago” and that they only recently asked to have it sited adjacent to the School, on land owned by the QUVL.
He said that he had thought that it might be possible (although he expected that the QUVL might want to negotiate a lease for the land itself and added that planning approval – which would take 13 weeks – would be required). He took this (new) proposal to a recent board meeting and it was rejected by the QUVL.
Shiela said that the original plans to site the Pod on the School land had to be changed when the plans were drawn up and one of the fences was sited in the spot intended for the Pod. She said that she and Mark Peer (mentioned in my previous Pod Article) visited Andrew Hunter in November last year and pointed out the spot on the map in his office.
Shiela added that siting the Pod on School land was not ideal because of security issues and because young people are often not keen on going onto School property outside of school hours (I can relate to that – lol) and she also said that planning permission would not be essential prior to siting the pod unless complaints were received from local residents.
Throughout all of this, there has been some speculation (and there’s little doubt in my mind) that the rejection was partly a political decision (bearing in mind that local elections are due very shortly), and that the refusal is in some way associated with the fact that many recent developer planning applications have been rejected by the Council.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Sorry I didn’t make it today to show support, I have just read about it (been a bit busy).
I hope The Citizen do a decent spread to highlight the issue and it doesn’t just end up embroiled in local Politics who in the main don’t give a rats ass about us most of the time. Thankfully there are a few exceptions who do try to make a positive effect.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:25 am
Just to reiterate some of what Clive has posted: I have had communications from Andy Hunter – Project Manager for QUVL – as follows:
“Firstly, QUVL have no obligation to provide this facility although we have considered this request.
Both Jackie Hall, Glos Com’ Police and I have looked at various site for the Youth Pod here at Kingsway. The most appropriate site appears to be next to the primary school. We looked at the area alongside the school (vacant land at present, but unfortunately due to be developed, as you know under the local centre plans).
QUVL have suggested that the Youth Pod (owned by Glos County Council/Police) is located perhaps in the car park of the School (owned by Glos County Council), this avoids any leasehold agreements and planning permission, since planning has previously been granted. It also negates the need to meter services as the pod can be connected directly into the school facilities… Perfect!
QUVL do not see any problem with this and refuse to accept any backlash for not providing a site. I would say “come on Glos County Council, get on with it.”
So, it seems its a Gloucester County Council issue – so come on please GCC!!