Open letter to save Youth Services
Article published: Tuesday, March 22nd 2011
Community activists have written an open letter to Manchester City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese calling on him to rethink the decision to end all Youth Services – which they say was made ‘without consideration of the consequences’ and in disrespect of a legal duty to consult the young people and communities who will be affected.
Image by Penny Krantz
The unexpected announcement of the decision to abolish the entire Youth Service – which provides not only youth centres but also helps excluded pupils to sit their GCSEs – was met with an angry reaction three weeks ago. This was compounded when local councillors who had previously voiced their concern at the closure of youth centres in their constituencies remained silent on the matter at the full council meeting which voted on the budget.
Manchester City Council is one of the country’s local authorities to be hit worst by the cuts – with more than a quarter of its budget cut for the next financial year, it has been forced into finding savings of £110m for 2011/2012 alone. Yet so far the Labour-controlled authority is the only one in the country which has decided to axe its entire Youth Service.
Now campaigners from Manchester Coalition Against The Cuts, who initiated the letter, are calling on concerned residents to put their name to the letter. They are also asking people to speak to their neighbours and other members of the community and ask them to sign hard copies. The full text of the letter follows below.
You can send an email to krantz.mark@gmail.com to add your name to the letter or print off a copy by clicking here
Completed hard copies of the letter should be sent to PO Box 111, Chorlton M21 0AA
……………….
Dear Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council.
Save Manchester’s Youth Service!
We write with serious concerns of the consequences of destroying the Manchester Youth Service.
Added to the rising levels of youth unemployment, the removal of the EMA grants and unaffordable tuition fees, and the elimination of Connexions, now the Manchester Youth Service is to be closed, and hundreds of youth workers jobs have already gone.
These Cuts are set to create conditions similar to those seen in this city in the early 1980′s under the Thatcher government. The consequences of having no Youth Service are obvious:
- more young people ‘criminalised’ as they are left to use the streets, as the Youth Centers close
- vulnerable children abandoned by those with whom they can develop relationships, and put at greater risk
- increasing anti social behaviour and rising levels of youth crime
- the attraction of gangs, guns and knives to some of our youth, as positive youth work ceases
- opportunities for racists and fascists to exploit feelings of despair
- a generation of young people abandoned
Your decision to close the Youth Service was made without consideration of the consequences. No Equality Impact Assessment has been done, yet services cannot be legally be changed or scraped without one. Young people and communities were not consulted in line with the Education Act, yet the Council has a statutory duty to consult the youth who use the services.
We demand that you urgently review the closure decisions, and properly consult all those effected by your decision.
The Tory led government is making the biggest cuts to Councils like Manchester that have the largest numbers of young people with the greatest needs. We urge you to adopt a strategy of resistance to these cuts so that funds can be won or located to ensure the continuation of Youth Centres in Manchester
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Comments
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‘a generation of young people abandoned’
No, not really. Only that small proportion of the generation which uses the Youth Services are being ‘abandoned’.
And nobody is going to be ‘criminalised’ by the closure to the Youth Service. People are criminalised when they commit a criminal offence and are convicted by a court.
Comment by simon on March 22, 2011 at 2:01 pm -
“Only that small proportion of the generation which uses the Youth Services are being ‘abandoned’.”
Well, that’s alright then.
Comment by Stephen Higgins on March 23, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Given the rapidly rising increase in food prices,
perhaps these young people would make more of a contribution to society if we were to follow the policies suggested in Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’. -
The United Nations Rights of the Child
A child means every human being under the age of eighteen years, unless, under the applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
The initial 1923 document consisted of the following stipulations:
The delinquent child must be reclaimed.
Whereas mankind owes to the child the best it has to give.
Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
Principle 2
· The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically,
Principle 4
· He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health;
Principle 7
· The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education, society and the public authorities shall endeavour to promote the enjoyment of this right.
If we believe in and support the U.N. Charter, then we must fulfil and stand by what we promises the children, and not let them down, I have always been taught by my Parents, we should never promises children what we can not give them, as this is a betrayal of the trust that children put in Adults, to do our very best for them. Please give the children in Hulme a chance and do not limit their chances of achievements by reducing the facilities that are available to them.
2. WHY CHILDREN MUST HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE IN EU EXTERNAL ACTION.
Investing in children and young people today means investing in the future.
Young people with a good education, positive ideals, skills and a sense of social responsibility are likely to become adults with a commitment to sound social values, ready and able to make a constructive contribution to the economic and social development of their communities. Children and young people with these positive qualities are also likely in their turn to become caring parents for their own children.
These Cuts are set to create conditions similar to those seen in this city in the early 1980′s under the Thatcher government. The consequences of having no Youth Service are obvious:
more young people ‘criminalised’ as they are left to use the streets, as the Youth Centers close
vulnerable children abandoned by those with whom they can develop relationships, and put at greater risk
increasing anti social behaviour and rising levels of youth crime
the attraction of gangs, guns and knives to some of our youth, as positive youth work ceases
opportunities for racists and fascists to exploit feelings of despair
a generation of young people abandoned
Your decision to close the Youth Service was made without consideration of the consequences. No Equality Impact Assessment has been done, yet services cannot be legally be changed or scraped without one. Young people and communities were not consulted in line with the Education Act, yet the Council has a statutory duty to consult the youth who use the services.
We demand that you urgently review the closure decisions, and properly consult all those effected by your decision.
The Tory led government is making the biggest cuts to Councils like Manchester that have the largest numbers of young people with the greatest needs. We urge you to adopt a strategy of resistance to these cuts so that funds can be won or located to ensure the continuation of Youth Centres in ManchesterChris Shelmerdine, Resident of Hulme.
Comment by Chris Shelmerdine on March 27, 2011 at 12:31 pm -
[…] clubs for schoolchildren will end and Sure Start children’s centres face outsourcing, while the city’s youth service wing has been […]
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[…] You can read his full reply here, and the original open letter to the council here. […]
Pingback by News round-up 29 August-2 September — MULE on September 4, 2011 at 5:25 pm -
As a manchester youth worker and trainer of trainers of well over thirty years in both the voluntary and statutory sector I am appallled by what Richard leese has agreed to. I knew Richard when he first came to live in Crumpsall… I lived there for over 40 years…….you have my Full support in your battle. Please let me know how you get on. Although I am now etired I still hold the interests of young people to heart.
Comment by Jackie Clarke on May 9, 2012 at 10:45 pm
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