The last remaining youth centre in one of England\u2019s most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home.<\/p>\n
In November the Guardian revealed<\/a> how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report<\/a> that estimated the centre was saving the council more than \u00a3500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care.<\/p>\n Pie Factory Music<\/a>, the charity that is based in the youth centre, has for many years provided a social space for eight- to 25-year-olds, but also offers services including counselling, employment advice, life-skills sessions, assistance for young refugees, and creative and music projects.<\/p>\n After a campaign that started in September 2024, Pie Music Factory has been able to buy the freehold of Ramsgate youth centre. This was partly thanks to a grant of \u00a3535,000 from Labour\u2019s Pride in Place strategy<\/a>, which aims to put significant investment into deprived communities across the country.<\/p>\n Zo\u00eb Carassik says youth provision should not depend on charities alone and called for strengthening statutory protections for youth services. Photograph: Polly Braden\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing our future in the building is secure fills us with hope and relief,\u201d said Pie\u2019s chief executive, Zo\u00eb Carassik. \u201cWe are deeply grateful to the Pride in Place programme and everyone who has helped us.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she said that the government\u2019s Youth Matters national strategy, which it announced at the end of last year<\/a>, needed to come with real investment and \u201cnot just words\u201d to stop this happening elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should never have had to campaign to save Ramsgate youth centre \u2013 the last dedicated youth centre in the area \u2013 in the first place,\u201d she said. \u201cThis must not happen again.<\/p>\n \u201cYouth provision should not depend on charities like us alone. That\u2019s why we urge local MPs and the communities minister to go further in strengthening statutory protections for youth services and review councils\u2019 statutory duty to provide youth services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A report released last year by the YMCA<\/a> revealed a 73% decline in funding for youth services in England and a 6% year-on-year decline in Wales between 2010 and 2024. In August Labour announced it would invest \u00a388m in youth clubs<\/a> and after-school activities.<\/p>\n The Guardian visited Ramsgate as part of its Against the tide series<\/a>, which is exploring the reality behind research that shows young people in deprived coastal areas are three times more likely to be living with an undiagnosed mental health condition<\/a> than their peers in equivalent places inland. A further report by University College London<\/a> found the lack of youth services and spaces was a significant problem in coastal towns.<\/p>\n Brian Horton, interim chair of the Ramsgate Neighbourhood Board, which signed off the grant to Pie, said: \u201cThe board is making a clear statement: we are committed to providing safe, positive spaces for the next generations to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last remaining youth centre in one of England\u2019s most deprived coastal places has been saved from being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-409325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}