Slough Borough Council has been successful in its bid to the Local Criminal Justice Board’s Community Cashback Scheme to secure funding for Britwell Youth Club.
The Slough award of £36,000 came from a total pot of £95,000 being distributed across the whole of the Thames Valley and will ensure that the youth club can now open for more days and be able to create a new music centre for young people in the area. A cheque will be presented on Wednesday 25 November at 11am at Britwell Youth Centre in Slough.
Community Cashback is a new scheme to give local people a say in how criminal assets recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act should be spent in their communities. The criteria were that projects should be community focussed and relate to improving the lives of local people through the reduction of nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
Slough Borough Council secured the money as part of its Justice Seen Justice Done campaign to enable the centre to now open on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Bidding took place in August and the public were invited to have their say on which projects they favoured. Britwell Youth Club was one of 40 projects competing for funding across the Thames Valley.
Kam Bhatti, Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Coordinator for Slough Borough Council, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this funding for the people of Slough. We are committed to making sure that the young people of Slough have the best services available to them and, with the funding secured, this will help us to deliver.
“The young people are so excited about the fact that the youth centre will be open for more days but they are especially excited about the prospects of a state of the art music centre. The views of local communities and us being responsive to them are crucial to the public being confident that there is a criminal justice system that works for them.”
Commissioner for Slough Opportunity and Skills, Cllr Fiz Matloob, added: “Well done to the team for securing the funding which will really turn the youth club around. Funding is always needed in order to keep services running and to make sure that everyone gets the chance to use them. The £36,000 is a fantastic amount of money to make this happen.”
Mike Curry, Manager of the Local Criminal Justice Board said: “This was a well thought out and detailed bid from Slough Borough Council for an extremely worthwhile project. We are delighted to award this money to the Britwell Youth Centre and confident that this will be an excellent use of the money. It will send a clear message to criminals that they will not be able to profit from their criminal activity.”
Thames Valley Police ~ Released on behalf of the Slough Criminal Justice Board
