New youth centre planned for Hangleton and Knoll moves a step closer

The £800,000 youth centre is a step closer after Green and Labour councillors voted to lease a corner of the Knoll Rec to the Hangleton and Knoll Project.

The Hove scheme, which is subject to planning permission, is being funded by the government which chose it as one of four pilot schemes across the country.

The aim is to build and run a youth centre in an energy-efficient modular building in a way that can be replicated elsewhere, with a grant from the government’s Youth Investment Fund.

It is part of a drive to extend sustainable youth services. The proposed building at the Knoll Rec would include solar panels and a heat exchanger to help keep running costs down.

Labour councillor John Allcock asked a series of questions at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s policy and resources urgency sub-committee at Hove Town Hall.

Cllr Allcock asked whether the council could end up saddled with any part of the bill but was told that, while there was a risk, it was low.

He also asked the Hangleton and Knoll Project chief executive Jo Martindale whether any consultation had been carried out.

Government funding is going towards a new community centre (Image: Architecure 00)

She said that the proposal had been well-received by the wider community after leaflet drops to hundreds of nearby homes, social media posts and a public meeting in November.

The site included the Hangleton Bowls Club, which was trying to recruit more members and would also benefit from the project.

She said: “As a result of an initial meeting (with the bowls club), not only were they happy to give up part of their land, we have a support package in place with them where we’re helping them attract additional members and raise funds to subsidise that.”

The Hangleton and Knoll Community Youth Project was already working with dozens of young people from the Knoll estate and surrounding area in the rec which is also known as Knoll Park.

Some of its work, with vulnerable young men, was being funded by a local charity, the Pebble Trust, in an area that ranked in the top 10 per cent of most deprived areas in the country.

A council review also identified historic underinvestment in the area, the lack of a suitable venue and the high level of need in the area.

Cllr Allcock said that the proposals included an attractive and appropriate building, adding: “I feel very reassured about the strategic value of this particular project.

“I am grateful for the work that’s been put in to apply for this. I’d be happy to support it.”

The Green leader of the council Phelim Mac Cafferty said that the outcome would be better services for children and young people in one of the poorer fringe areas of Brighton and Hove.

Cllr Mac Cafferty said: “There are far too many children and young people who have never been to the seaside. I imagine Hangleton and Knoll are exactly those sorts of places.

“When young people feel far away from the centre, they’ll feel far away financially, they’ll feel far away time-wise, but this will hopefully help bring services to them.

“This is one of the most deprived areas – one in four children are living in poverty – so anything that the local authority can do to alleviate that pain is a powerful thing.”

He praised the work and expertise of the Hangleton and Knoll Project in the field and said that this scheme was wonderful news for children and young people in the area.

Both councillors voted to accept a grant worth £776,500 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and to ask town hall officials to liaise with civil servants for some extra related funding.