Councillors have backed forming a partnership with youth service providers to bid for government funding.
The moves comes after the government announced a £500 million Youth Investment Fund – back in September 2019 – to help to build new youth centres and to refurbish existing ones.
Brighton and Hove City Council originally planned to team up with Brighton Youth Centre and a charity called Onside to create a central “youth zone”.
But after the three parties held talks, the partnership was ruled out as an option because Brighton Youth Centre’s vision did not fit with the criteria of Onside’s building and business model.
Members of the council’s Children, Young People and Skills Committee agreed to partner with Brighton Youth Centre and youth services providers.
They plan to bid for a share of the latest round of government funding, worth £368 million in total, which is expected to be open to bids this summer.
Brighton Youth Centre needs funding to make it accessible to all young people, councillors were told.
The cost of extending and refurbishing Brighton Youth Centre is expected to total £6 million – and other small-scale buildings are proposed for more deprived areas of Brighton and Hove.
At the meeting on Monday (13 June), Conservative councillor Vanessa Brown said that she was concerned that more money was going to Brighton Youth Centre. But she was pleased that some money would go to neighbourhood providers.
Councillor Brown said: “We know that our young people particularly value the neighbourhood projects and the fact that they work more extensively with more disadvantaged young people.
“So it is very important that they also receive some of the benefits of the money we receive.”
Labour councillor Jackie O’Quinn backed Councillor Brown in wanting to support youth services across Brighton and Hove rather than one “big” youth centre in central Brighton.
She said: “It’s great to have the Brighton Youth Centre but we really do want money to go out to the other areas.”
Labour councillor Les Hamilton called for a youth service in Portslade, adding that it took nearly an hour to travel by bus from Mile Oak to the youth centre in Edward Street.
Green councillor Hannah Clare said that a council housebuilding project in Portslade – part of the New Homes for Neighbourhoods scheme – would include something for young people.
Community work expert Adam Muirhead, director of youth work at the Trust for Developing Communities, said that Brighton and Hove was a “beacon for best practice” and improved outcomes for young people.
He said: “I’m hopeful with Onside not being part of the project, the opportunity to be fully self-determined as a city will yield the best results for all concerned, in particular, our young people.”
