Anybody who has been near the NET Young Peoples Centre – off the Stratton Way – will have seen that a lot of building and decoration work has been carried out in the last two months. As I understand it the upstairs area is being converted to offices for various youth and child services. Presumably the 1970’s observation hole in the middle has been filled in to allow this conversion.
Other youth centres in Oxfordshire are threatened with closure in the hope that the ‘Big Society’ will take them over, but the NET is being converted to what is termed a HUB. As I understand it, the downstairs area will continue as a youth centre – in the evenings at least, but the emphasize will be on targeting those most in need, and offices for people involved with such work.
We in Abingdon need to support the Net and resist threats to youth service closure in this area. There is a dire need for its’ services.