News
Chuckery Youth Centre plans back on
After a series of u-turns and climb-downs, Walsall Council is being urged to look again at plans for a permanent, purpose-built youth centre in Chuckery.
Having secured £450,000 in central government funding, Walsall`s cabinet abandoned plans for the much needed facility in the face of fierce opposition from local residents. Fearful of losing the funding, the council hastily came up with a plan to equip 6 buses with video games and DJ decks for use throughout the borough.
At a meeting of the St Matthews/Leamore/Birchills Local Neighbourhood Partnership (LNP), members voted to urge cabinet to drop this plan and to look again at a permanent facility in Chuckery. LNP chairman Councillor Tim Oliver said: “We feel that Chuckery needs its own youth centre and we want the cabinet to look at the area again to see if something could be done for the young people.
“There are concerns in the community that the consultation was not good enough. We think that there are other places in the neighbourhood which could be considered for a youth building.
“This is a one-off opportunity for Chuckery which might not come back again and it is imperative the cabinet looks at all the options.”
The original council decision to build on the Chuckery Corner Green provoked outrage from local residents who branded a haphazard consultation exercise as “a joke”. A 600 signature petition forced the council to look for alternative sites. The council announced that the youth centre would be built on the site of a disused bakery but again, residents objected and local MP Bruce George slammed the proposal as being “almost criminal”.
Speaking in August, Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Bird said: “The chances of opening a permanent facility in Chuckery is nil and that is not down to us. We did all we could to find a permanent site but faced opposition at every turn.” He went on to say that £50,000 had been “wasted” in preparing designs for the two rejected locations.
Campaigners have consistently supported the proposal for a permanent youth centre and have suggested many alternative locations including the abandoned Chuckery Neighbourhood Office in Tantarra Street. Local councillor and cabinet member Mohammed Arif drew gasps of astonishment at an earlier LNP meeting when he stated the Chuckery Neighbourhood Office was not actually in Chuckery. It is thought that Councillor Arif abstained on the latest LNP vote.