Save Our Wanstead Youth Centre

SOWYC requests consultation regarding the 5 options put to Cabinet at their meeting on 14 September.  In the interim, it is not in young people's and the wider community's interest to close WYC, from 15 October 2023.

SOWYC cautiously welcomes Redbridge Council's Cabinet decision to create an Education Hub and Youth Centre on the site and commitment not to demolish it for housing.  However, SOWYC requested if consultation  is to be meaningful, that Council complies with its legal and moral obligations to consult when proposals are in their formative stage with a view to reaching agreement.

At their meeting on 14 September, Cabinet shockingly confirmed that WYC will close from 15 October, with no commitment on when it will re-open. Closing WYC without a firm, or even tentative, re-opening date, not only deprives young people and the wider community of the services and facilities available, it leaves the site open to vandalism and decline, while the Council also loses out on vital income. 

Many of the people who spoke at the meeting, including four young people – Beth, Zak, Lily and Charis – asked the Council to keep the Centre open while plans are firmed up. Regrettably these pleas fell on “deaf ears” contrary to the Leader's undertakings. SOWYC believes the closure will be premature, as it will take months and months if not over a year to develop plans, secure funding and complete the building works. SOWYC has asked to meet with the leader of the Council Jas Athwal, to discuss options for interim arrangements.

Speakers were also keen to hear more about the nature of youth work being promised for the new Education Hub and Youth Centre. While the current proposals outline details for education services, there is no information on the nature of the youth services Redbridge intends to offer to meet their statutory requirements in this area and support young people in the west of the borough. 

Additionally, there are no details on the facilities that will be available for the public, and whether they will be at all comparable to the current extensive facilities of two sports halls, a further two halls, kitchen and fully equipped music recording studio. However, SOWYC welcomed Councillor Athwal’s statement that he is keen to retain music facilities in the new development – particularly given the statement this week from Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective that the band met in a youth club and that their achievement “is testimony to good, special people putting time and effort into helping young people to play music”.

Further speakers challenged the performance of Vision's management of WYC, particularly from a financial perspective over at least the past five years. As SOWYC’s own calculations show, WYC could have been generating almost five times as much income than Vision has allegedly been able to generate. No financial breakdowns were provided in the Council’s Report to substantiate the alleged income and expenditure levels now being quoted, making it impossible to submit counter proposals without that crucial data. SOWYC requested that Council scrutinises Vision’s management of WYC as it should not be based on trust when public monies are being used to subsidise Vision.

We hope the leader’s assurances that ‘we owe it to you to get a centre up and running as soon as possible’ prove to be accurate. 

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Please join SOWYC at Redbridge Town Hall on Thursday 21 September for the full Council meeting to call on the Council to reject the Cabinet's decision to close WYC on 15 October.