Mansfield MP, Ben Bradley, has warmly welcomed the announcement by the Department for Levelling Up that Mansfield’s youth services will receive a boost of £3.2 million.
The funding was revealed on Friday by Mr. Bradley who hosted a ‘PM Connect’ event in Mansfield with Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
This new funding will build a Youth and Community Centre on the Bellamy Estate which will provide a safe space for young people to access a range of positive opportunities, and trusted professionals for information, advice, guidance, and support.
It will also provide a dynamic space for members of the local community to gather and engage in group activities, and to seek support and opportunities to improve their overall health and wellbeing.
The new hub will form part of the County Council’s preventative care strategy, reaching young people who need support earlier, keeping them in their communities and avoiding more expensive children’s residential or acute care settings.
The centre will be funded from the overall Levelling Up Partnership between Mansfield and the Government, and Nottinghamshire County Council has been working closely with Mansfield District Council to identify the Bellamy Estate as a suitable site for this investment.
The Bellamy Estate, which is one of the town’s most disadvantaged areas, currently has no immediate access to a community space in which local preventative services can be run.
Mr. Bradley has hailed today’s announcement as “a testament to the Government’s Levelling Up Partnership with Mansfield” saying “we want to help people get on in life and overcome challenges, and this announcement helps to do that.”
Commenting, Ben Bradley MP said:
“Early help and prevention services are a huge priority for me both as an MP and council leader. We’re trying to make sure we can get in early and support young people, so they don’t end up in children’s residential care or in acute care settings in particular.
“We want to help people get on in life and overcome challenges, and this announcement helps to do that. It creates a new youth and community hub in an area that currently has no provision for these services and joins up support for the most vulnerable people in one of Mansfield most disadvantaged estates.
“It’s also a big personal priority for me. Growing up I wanted to be a teacher and I’ve passionately worked both in Westminster and County Hall to improve youth services across Mansfield and the wider area.
“It’s a testament to the Government’s Levelling Up Partnership with Mansfield that we’re able to secure more of this funding, especially with the backdrop of local services being squeezed by inflation. It really does show that Government is listening to the concerns I’ve raised and is continuing to invest in these vital local services.
“I’m also hugely grateful to organisations like Nottingham Trent University for working within communities like Oak Tree and the Bellamy Estate particularly with helping get children prepared for school. I know this announcement today will make a big difference to organisations that work within these communities too.”
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