Council set to scrap youth club charges

12.21.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 17th Jan 2008

Moves to scrap charges at the borough's youth clubs, to encourage more young people to use them, are being proposed by Richmond Council.

Plans to drop the annual membership fees of £10 or charges of 60p a session are included in the Council's proposed youth services investment programme. The proposals will be considered at a meeting of the Education and Children's Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week, and would come into force from 1 April if finally agreed by Cabinet.

Cllr Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources on Richmond Council, said: "Improving youth services is one of the Council's key priorities and we are investing heavily to transform youth centres and massively increase the services and activities we offer. We have increased funding for the youth service by £250,000 a year and have spent over £500,000 to upgrade our five youth clubs this year with further investment planned. The 2007 Summer Uni programme also delivered a massive range of positive activities for young people during the school holidays, with huge take up. Making sure young people have a wide range of interesting and challenging things to do and safe places to go. Youth clubs will continue to involve their members in raising funds for the things they want to do as part of their contribution to developing the services provided for them. This important proposal is the next step, aiming to make our youth clubs more attractive and accessible to young people."