North East Lincolnshire Council has recently taken delivery of a £90,000 mobile youth centre with the aim of bringing multi-media fun and a space to chill out to an extra 1,000 young people spread around the county.

The cash for the 30-foot mobile unit has come from the Government’s Youth Capital Fund Plus (YCF+) pot to provide much-needed up-to-date facilities for young people to give them safe places to meet and positive things to do. The unit will be operational on the streets of North East Lincolnshire next month (March).

North East Lincolnshire’s YCF + funds come under the Government’s Aiming High strategy
to ensure there are plenty of activities for young people, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. In total £1.96 million has been made available over three years through Aiming High in North East Lincolnshire to increase the participation of young people in positive leisure time activities.

It will be the second mobile resource centre operating in the county giving youth workers the chance to target hard-to-reach areas, including more rural and isolated locations. Extending outwards to around 12 feet, the new unit has a meeting room, space to display the work of the teenagers, an IT working area, WC, and additional lighting for outdoor events. Specialist confidential advice and support will also be available on sexual health, drugs and unemployment.

Young people themselves have played a key part in the design of the unit and the equipment it will boast inside – skills games, arts, crafts, play stations and a Wii – and some will be making promotional videos. They are now coming up with design ideas for the graphics for the vehicle.

Andy Ross, (15), has been a regular user of the first mobile youth centre for the past year or more and is one of a small group of core young people who have helped with ideas to improve the new unit.

“One of the main things was to have a toilet – sometimes we’d have to dash off home, or someone else’s, or run to a local shopping centre! We also wanted more space as the unit is really popular – loads of us go – and the first one got really cramped sometimes. We were also able to help with designs for the walls and what equipment and games we would use.

“It will be great having this second one; it’s bigger, it’s warm, we get to meet up with our mates and play games, have a laugh and enjoy the company. Without them, there is really nothing for us to do and nowhere to go so in the evenings. It keeps us out of trouble and off the streets,” he said.

Steve Davies, operational manager for the Council’s youth service, said: “This is a fantastic new piece of kit and will really boost our ability to deliver flexible, first-class services to the young people of North East Lincolnshire, many of whom we just cannot reach at the moment. The current mobile unit has been with us nearly two years and has really proved its worth, providing an entertaining, safe and informative hub for hundreds of young people.“

Based in Grimsby, the mobile unit is now being kitted out and ‘branded’ before hitting the towns and villages of the county. The Council aim to use it seven days a week, staffed by two youth workers and colleagues from partner organisations.