Waverley Borough Council

Community Wellbeing Overview & scrutiny

15 january 2020

Title:
Youth Activities in Waverley

Portfolio Holder:	Cllr David Beaman, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Culture

Heads of Service:	Kelvin Mills, Head of Commercial Services

Andrew Smith, Head of Housing Delivery and Communities

Key decision:	No

Access:	Public

1. Purpose and summary
1.1 Following a request by the Community Wellbeing O&S Committee to investigate youth activities in the Borough this report gives initial feedback to the Committee following the first phase of research.

2. Recommendation
It is recommended that the Committee consider and confirm which direction further research should take.
3. Reason for the recommendation
To ensure further research meets the needs of the Committee.
4. Background to youth provision in Waverley
4.1 In England and Wales upper tier local authorities i.e. Surrey County Council, have a duty to secure services and activities for young people aged 13 to 19, and those with learning difficulties to age 24, to improve their well-being. The scope of this duty includes access to positive, preventative and early help to improve their well-being and includes youth work and other services that: connect young people with their communities; offer safe environments to take part in a wide range of sports, music, arts and other activities; improve young people’s physical and mental health and emotional well-being; provide help for those at risk of dropping out of learning or not achieving their full potential and raise young people’s aspirations, build their resilience and inform their decisions, thereby reducing teenage pregnancy, risky behaviours such as substance misuse and involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour. 4.2 There have been many changes to how local youth services have been funded and delivered in the last seven years and the government are currently reviewing their guidance. In reality budgets for community youth work have been cut drastically over the years and the focus has been placed on supporting the most vulnerable young people with the highest levels of need. Youth work is no longer delivered from places like youth centres and the County looks to work in partnership to provide services to young people. For example, Surrey Youth Focus is a charity working with councils, police, schools and public health to “significantly improve the lives of young people in Surrey”. They explore the needs of young people and describe themselves as the ‘eyes and ears of the voluntary youth sector”. Provision of youth activities has always relied heavily on the voluntary sector but in the last decade the gap between what is needed and what is available has widened. 4.3 Following a Youth Work Needs Assessment in Waverley in 2015 the following areas were identified as having the highest need: Sandy Hill, Farnham; Godalming Ockford, Aarons Hill and Binscombe; Cranleigh East and Haslemere East, Critchmere and Shottermill. At the time of the assessment young people were asked about their needs and concerns and the following comments were received: Drugs and alcohol problems were identified as the highest need area that needed support Young people felt under increasing pressure from others to do well and highlighted there was a huge stress of failure Emotional and mental health concerns were increasing, issues such as isolation, self harming, self image and bullying were affecting young people in Waverley 4.4 Although Waverley Council has no duty to provide youth services, in reality we provide a broad range of activities especially through our leisure services and in other respects through supporting organisations such as 40 Degreez in Farnham. The Leisure and Wellbeing Development Plan 2019-21 includes a large amount of activity aimed at young people. For example, the Friday Night Project which started at Cranleigh Leisure Centre, attracts around 70 young people a week and provides gym, pool and squash sessions as well as a break out area where they can sit and chat. This model has been extended to Farnham and proposals to roll it out further are being explored. Waverley also provides skate parks in Godalming, Farnham and Haslemere and these have proved popular. Waverley’s Culture and Arts service has also provided activities for young people and is currently exploring new opportunities. However, whilst the Council offers a number of organised activities, anecdotal evidence suggests that young people also want a more informal provision for example somewhere to gather and meet. 4.5 The Borough has a wide range of sporting and other activities for young people provided by clubs and voluntary organisations which are well attended and supported. However, as a predominantly rural authority there is potentially a deficit of activities for young people in the villages and more rural areas of the Borough. More research would need to be carried out in this area to ascertain the exact level of provision. 4.6 In recent years there has been an increase in longer term anti-social behaviour in local communities across the Borough. This can have a significant impact on a local community and lives of local residents. The behaviours being displayed by the young people are an increase in noise, nuisance behaviour, criminal damage and grooming of other young people into serious organised crime, sexual exploitation and drugs. 4.7 During 2019 there were two locations in the Borough, Farnham and Farncombe that experienced these significant problems. Currently the Farncombe issue is being managed through the mechanism of the Safer Waverley Partnership (SWP) which is a statutory partnership of organisations who work together to create strategies and practical interventions to reduce crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in Waverley. The SWP mechanisms being utilised for this issue are: The Community Harm and Risk Management Meeting - This is a multi agency meeting that shares information on high risk cases, and incidents, and put in place appropriate risk management plans to address the behaviour of the perpetrator, and reduce the negative impact on victims. A Joint Action Task and Finish Group - A multi agency approach including targeted services and organisations such as Targeted Youth Service (statutory and voluntary), local schools, the Town Council and the Council’s Community Safety Team. This group focuses on the location and community impact and works together to resolve specific issues. A consultation exercise is being carried out in the area to explore and understand activities that would be of interest to young people. Initial feedback suggests that rather than an informal ‘shelter’ young people would prefer a more café style environment. The results of this consultation could inform and provide a model for other parts of the Borough. 4.8 The withdrawal of funding from Surrey County Council’s general youth work has meant that organisations such as district councils have filled some of the gap, particularly around organised leisure activities. However, some families can’t afford the costs or can’t prioritise the costs that are associated with the more traditional activities such as weekly fees, travel costs, associated kit/uniform and trips. The Complimentary Access to Leisure Scheme, (referral only) is a very helpful safety net to support these families for leisure centre activities and organisations such as guides and scouts will give support for the provision of uniforms and trips. 4.9 The Safer Waverley Partnership also report that young people face new challenges with the increase in Serious Organised Crime, Child Sexual Exploitation, grooming and cyber bullying. There has been an increase in the number of young people on the Community Harm and Risk Management Meeting which require a multi-agency approach and Waverley has a comparatively high number of young people who are at risk of sexual exploitation. The Council does not have the skills and resources to relate to our more challenging young people who require more support for emotional and mental wellbeing issues. Many young people do not want to engage more formally preferring instead to go somewhere safe where they can ‘hang out’, chat and get support and advice. Whereas in the past youth clubs may have met some of this need these are no longer supported by the youth service and have disappeared in most towns and villages. 5. Questions for the Committee 5.1 In order to provide value to the Committee and to prevent unnecessary work it would be useful for the Scrutiny team to gain an understanding of what the Committee would like to explore further in what is potentially a far reaching subject. To this end it may be helpful for members of the Committee to discuss the role they see the Borough Council having in this context. What role should the Council have in providing facilities and activities for young people? Does the Borough Council have a role, or should it have a role, in improving young people’s physical and mental health and emotional well-being? What further research would the Committee like to see?
6. Relationship to the Corporate Strategy and Service Plan
6.1 The exploration of youth activities will be valuable in supporting the Corporate Strategy objective ‘to improve facilities for young people’.
7. Implications of decision
7.1 Resource (Finance, procurement, staffing, IT) There are no resource implications at this stage.
7.2 Risk management There are no risk management issues. .
7.3 Legal There are no legal issues to consider at this stage.
7.4 Equality, diversity and inclusion There are no direct equality, diversity or inclusion implications in this report. Equality impact assessments are carried out when necessary across the council to ensure service delivery meets the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010.
7.5 Climate emergency declaration There are no climate emergency implications.
8. Consultation and engagement
8.1 Initial engagement has taken place with Waverley service managers who have involvement in youth activities.

9. Governance journey
9.1 This report is an information only item for Overview and Scrutiny.

Background Papers

There are no background papers, as defined by Section 100D(5) of the Local Government Act 1972).

CONTACT OFFICER:

Name:	Louise Norie

Position:	Corporate Policy Manager

Telephone:	0148 3523464

Email:	louise.norie@waverley.gov.uk

Agreed and signed off by:

Legal Services: 2 January 2020

Head of Finance: 2 January 2020

Strategic Director: 2 January 2020

Portfolio Holder: 2 January 2020