Blackpool Council commissioned a Service Review in late 2021, whilst the country was in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result of NYA’s recommendations the Council developed a Youth Provision Partnership, alongside Youth Focus North West, to facilitate closer working with the voluntary and community sector and through which it has successfully bid for funding to the tune of £1.7 million from the Youth Investment Fund (YIF).
The Youth Provision Partnership (YPP) is made up of key agencies from across the youth sector and those who work with young people, as well as residents, all committed to delivering an ambitious plan to grow youth provision for children and young people all across Blackpool with an investment of £250k from Blackpool Council.
The Council created a new youth service team in spring 2023 in line with the NYA’s recommendations, comprising a youth service manager, a grants and funding manager, a training and quality manager, a youth engagement officer and administrative support.
The new team are now able to reflect and plan rather than simply react to emerging needs. The area no longer has pockets of targeted services, but rather groups work together collectively to meet all young people’s needs.
Now when bids come into the council, service commissioners have a clearer view of who does what and best, unpinned by the shared agenda with the voluntary sector to advocate for youth work.
The YIF grant has enabled the redevelopment and expansion of the Talbot and Brunswick Youth Centre on Gorton Street, Blackpool, providing young people with a safe and supportive space to learn, grow, and develop their talents. The redeveloped and redesigned youth centre offers a range of youth work activities and opportunities, and the new centre will include a games room, space for sports, a kitchen area and the opportunity to develop an e-Sports area.
The new Youth Centre is part of a community campus model which also includes a Family Hub, a Playzone pitch, development of a stakeholder group of services chaired by local councillors developing projects for young people and the community such as fun days, revitalised garden for the community and young people attending ‘Police and Communities Together’ meetings. The area has seen an 80 per cent reduction in youth anti-social behaviour through Police involvement supported by youth workers.
Lisa Arnold, Assistant Director, Youth Service portfolio, Blackpool Council until August 2024, said: “The work that the NYA undertook was of excellent quality and has played a critical part in informing the journey that we are on as a town with regard to youth provision.
“This robust review has resulted in a commitment from all partners to support a collaborative approach to developing youth provision in the long term. The relationships and partnerships with the third sector are now far stronger than at the start of this journey, with a clear vision of what we are trying to achieve collectively, which is having a positive impact on both the development of youth provision across the town but also on other agendas that they now have the opportunity to shape and influence.”
Other achievements include an 800% increase in the number of votes cast (with a total of 1,907 votes cast) in the election for the Blackpool Member of Youth Parliament. There was also as a far greater response than previous years to the Make Your Mark survey, with the YPP getting responses from young people across schools, colleges, training providers, youth services and providers of youth activities, such as sports organisations.
2024 also marked the first youth workers meeting in over a decade bringing together 29 practitioners from across the partnership.
A key finding of NYA’s review was that young people want something to do in their communities and to feel safe and the Council responded by developing a seven-year plan to have a youth work offer that is local rooted in the community where young people live.
The aim is to provide more accessible provision across Blackpool and a range of activities which will lead to improved outcomes including a portfolio of learning and supporting the education and employability of young people.
The new youth work offer includes a focus on care leavers and supporting them into youth work roles. Young people were also given a voice through Blackpool Coastal Housing with the aim of giving all young people equal opportunity to play an active role in the community.
To find out more about NYA’s service review offer visit the webpage here.
