Hopes still alive for Bristol creative youth hub

Hopes for an inner city youth hub are still alive despite councillors voting against key funding for the project.

Bristol City Council blocked £758,000 of funding from the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) last week for the enterprise hub on Bridewell Street.

Metro mayor Dan Norris called the decision "appalling" and "nonsensical".

The National Lottery Heritage fund, which has already promised £4.25m for the project, said the project remains "a high priority" for them.

The charity Creative Youth Network (CYN) wants to turn the derelict magistrates' court in Bristol city centre into a £6.4m hub, called The Courts, for deprived young people.

The charity were waiting on the final allocation of money from WECA to start work on the project, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But Bristol's deputy mayor councillor Craig Cheney told the combined authority meeting on Friday that while the city council was "absolutely supportive" of the project, it had already invested £100,000 in the early stages of development.

He added that the council could not justify agreeing to give so much public money to one organisation when so many others were "crying out" for a fraction of the £758,000 requested, even though it was funded by WECA and not the local authority.

Leaders from South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset councils said they supported the investment but could not go against the wishes of the host local authority.

Now, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has pledged to work with CYN in its search for alternative sources of finance.

A spokesperson said: "This project remains a high priority for us.

"We are committed to working flexibly with the grantee in the hope that a viable alternative can be found.

"As this is unforeseen, we don't have a timeframe in mind at present, but we will continue to review the changing funding environment with them and take decisions as circumstances become clearer."

Chief executive of CYN, Mark Coates said he was disappointed by the outcome of the WECA committee meeting especially as the project had such widespread support.

He added that Bristol City Council has offered a meeting which "will be an opportunity to more fully understand their position" and that they look forward to working with the council and all involved to find a way to keep the match funding pledges alive.

If it goes ahead, the project would provide training for 500 young creatives aged 16-25 from disadvantaged backgrounds across the region through workshops, mentoring, music studios and paid internships.

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