No Youth Facilities in Hounslow

12.00.00am GMT Fri 20th Feb 2004

A yearlong scrutiny into Hounslow's Youth Services painted a bleak picture of children and youth facilities in Hounslow.

Ø There was massive under-investment in young people's facilities.

Ø There was a chronic lack of youth service provision, including support and advice services.

Ø Young people, on the whole, are ignored by the Council and a corporate failure to effective communication, consultation and co-ordinated facilities for young people.

The report concluded that there are some difficult messages the council must acknowledge. i.e. chronic under-funding of youth provision.

The data held by the Council was out of date.

Parts of the borough were noticeably worse than others. Some had poor transport facilities to reach the centres.

Although there were parks in most areas, few of them had any organised activities.

The report concluded that although the corporate body of Hounslow had performed badly, private sector activities, such as Scouts, Brownies, Army and Air cadets were generally more evenly spread across the Borough.

The panel considered that the authority was not good at getting

The panel cast its net wide, as far as Feltham Young Offenders Institution.

Disappointment was also levelled at Hounslow Council's Executive members who members of the scrutiny panel felt had not taken this issue seriously enough.

Councillor Andrew Morgan-Watts said, "After so much hard work, for the Executive to just brush aside so many serious issues is unbelievable. This is a wasted opportunity to make a vast improvement to facilities for children and young people in the borough.

a. No consideration of the hidden cost of not providing facilities for young people

b. No youth strategy in the borough

c. The youth service is drastically under-funded

d. A corporate failure to effectively communicate, consult and co-ordinate facilities for young people, who are not in public care.

e. There is a severe lack of support for the voluntary sector who provide youth facilities.

f. The voluntary sector providing youth facilities is under-funded.

g. There has only been a limited attempt to ascertain the requirements of young people.

h. Young people are not adequately represented on the Council's youth decision making bodies.

i. There is, across the board, insufficient consultation with young people.

j. The Council is failing to respond to the citizenship agenda.

k. There is no co-ordination of sport provision for youth in the borough.

l. Young people do not receive equal access to sport facilities in the borough.

m. There is a particular lack of general youth club provision.

The panels felt that many of the initiatives for young people were too short-term and provided no long-term cohesive strategy or funding.