It was great to meet with Full Circle, a brilliant local organisation delivering youth provision in our borough for approaching 15 years.
They’ve been told they’ll lose their base at the former South Chadderton Youth Centre this summer as it is planned to be used more fully by Yew Street Primary School who took on the building a decade ago.
The years of hard work and dedication by Full Circle can’t be lost. Back in 2015, the agreement to share the building was central to its original transfer.
Full Circle isn’t council funded. They’ve built something from the ground up; 3 nights a week, weekends, school holidays giving young people somewhere safe to go and something positive to do.
On top of that the centre is also used by the councils youth service, together providing a much needed base for young people in Chadderton.
And we all know the reality: without strong grassroots youth work, we won’t tackle some of the causes of anti-social behaviour or stop young people being pulled into more serious harm.
There are alternative proposals on the table, but right now they come with big challenges and uncertainty. Thanks also to Cllr Graham Shuttleworth for the work he’s done to support the group too, let’s try and get a good outcome for all involved.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 