Extra funding for youth services

The Safer Lambeth Partnership has announced new investment in youth provision in the borough following the violent death of a 15-year-old in Kennington.
There will be an extra £100,000 invested by Lambeth Council and Lambeth Police in youth services this summer, which will partly be used to re-establish a summer scheme for the Brixton area to give young people something worthwhile to do during the school holidays.
The extra investment will also increase the opening hours of four youth clubs for most of the summer. There will also be seven adventure playgrounds that will now be open from 10am to 6pm.
Following the murder, the council and the police are working closely together to listen to the community concerns and to provide reassurance. As part of this, the council is running community drop in sessions for young people to give their views.
As well as this the council is working on the Integrated Youth Strategy, which is expected to be launched next month. The aim of this is to make sure there are no gaps in youth provision in the borough, and to identify what could be improved. Meanwhile, the Youth Inclusion Support Panel is there to help make sure at risk young people have access to the services they need.
The council is also working with the voluntary sector and looking at what assistance it can give to help organisations extend the services they provide for young people over the summer.
Councillor Mark Bennett, Cabinet member for Community Safety, said: ?This tragic incident has shocked everyone at Lambeth Council deeply, and we are committed to listening to the community and finding out their views.
?We are mindful of the importance of making sure we provide positive activities for our young people, and following this tragedy we have taken an urgent look at levels of youth provision, and as a result we have agreed with the police to invest an extra £100,000 in services.
?Youth provision is a priority for this administration, and we are determined to make sure this extra investment is something that can be sustained in the long term.?