Ealing Council’s new administration has pledged that young people in Southall will benefit from a brand new, purpose-built youth facility, that they will help to design.

This was in response to a petition on the future of the Young Adults Centre (YAC) site, which has been earmarked for demolition to be replaced with urgently-needed family sized genuinely unaffordable homes since 2016.

The council’s cabinet announced plans to invest the proceeds from this development in new youth facilities for Southall. This will include a brand-new youth centre, as well as investment in interim youth facilities at Dormers Wells and the Dominion Centre while it is being built.

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The response of one resident is: “He is demolishing a perfectly good youth centre, to replace with 60 unaffordable homes in an area that is well on the way to being crammed with high rise developments and the trade off will be an inferior YAC.”

The council will work closely with young people to develop both the interim and permanent ways forward for a new location for the new youth service in Southall, which will be located near to the current YAC.

Councillor Peter Mason, leader of the council, said: “I’d like to thank the young people who presented the petition for making the case so brilliantly for high-quality youth services in Southall. We agree with them, and we know that many people have a strong attachment to the existing Young Adult Centre in Southall.

“We’re pledging to invest in Southall’s young people and provide even better youth facilities in a relocated YAC because we know how important youth services are. Thousands of people throughout the borough have benefitted from the services, counselling, safety and friendship the current centre has provided over the years, and we want future generations to enjoy state of the art facilities in a new YAC.”

Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, cabinet member for a fairer start, said: "This is a really exciting once in a generation opportunity for Southall’s young people to work with us to design brand new youth facilities that work for them."

"We want to invest in a state of the art youth centre in Southall, adaptable for different age groups participating in varied activities and with access to safe open space. It will be large enough for use by groups of up to 50 young people, and it will have all the facilities that local schools need for Duke of Edinburgh sessions and more. We’re looking forward to getting started designing a youth centre with young people, for young people."

Councillor Shital Manro, cabinet member for good growth, added: “Southall has an urgent need for new genuinely affordable family sized homes, with around 60 able to be provided on the YAC site. We’ll be consulting on those proposals once we have an agreed approach that will ensure that there is no break in the provision of high-quality youth facilities for Southall.”

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“Urgently-needed family sized genuinely affordable homes“?
Have you seen the number of high rise developments going up and planned in Southall?
These are JUST investment opportunities.

Ealing Council has a history of running down assets in Southall, selling them and delivering very little in return for Southall.

The proceeds from this development, even if invested in Southall, will deliver less than what is taken away.

What do the people of Southall say:
Leave the YAC as it is.
Build your housing at the proposed new location.
Re-invest the proceeds into the existing centre.

What does Ealing Council say:
We agree with young people who want to save YAC in Southall.
So, we are going to run it down and flog it to shore up Ealing Council finances and call it “once in a generation opportunity” for Southall youth facilities by PROMISING to deliver LESS than what we will take away.

On 25 May 2021 Peter Mason said “The community [Southall] don't trust the Council, and quite frankly you don't trust me..."

Why?

It’s a done deal.
Residents views don't matter.
They can’t change anything.
Ealing Council NEVER listen.