East Lothian Courier | News | Big boost for town’s teens

Thursday, 8th January, 2009

Published: Thursday, 25th September, 2008 07:30

Big boost for town’s teens

DUNBAR youth projects have been given “a new lease of life”, with unprecedented levels of funding, in the wake of increased efforts to tackle teenage disorder in the town centre.

In the past few weeks the Community Development Team in Dunbar has received £25,000 to extend the range of activities it offers, until at least March next year.

Previously the average yearly funding it received totalled around £15,000.

A meeting of the council-run Community Safety Forum last Thursday agreed to release £12,350 to support ongoing youth initiatives in the town, while East Lothian’s Drugs and Alcohol Team – also run by the local authority – allocated the community team £13,000 each year until 2011.

Community Development Officer, Jo McNamara, said the funding now available “took (her) breath away”.

She added that “nothing like it has happened before” in the decade she’s been in the job.

“The level of service that we have been providing can now be sustained for longer,” she said.

“The problem was that there was not enough money in the council mainstream budget for funding other work, just the bare minimum, and we were faced with having to cut back on activities because the money was not there.”

Mrs McNamara said that the funding windfall would enable youth workers at the Countess Youth and Community Centre and ‘The Office’ youth cafe on High Street – many of whom had been working for a nominal fee – to be paid an appropriate rate.

Around £10,000 would be spent on youth and community workers’ wages from now until March, she said.

As a result of the cash boost additional youth activities would be provided including live music nights, discos and outings.

The first live bands’ night would be held at the Countess Youth and Community Centre on October 4.

And Friday night’s ‘Chat and Chill’ event would also continue at least until March, said Mrs McNamara.

She continued: “The impact of the funding will depend on how people respond to this but it has given us a new lease of life.”

And she stressed that a permanent youth cafe in the town was still a long-term goal.

At last week’s meeting of the Community Safety Forum, team leader of community learning and development, Gordon Horsburgh, warned that Dunbar suffered “high levels” of alcohol abuse among young people.

The county’s police commander, Superintendent Murdo MacIver, agreed and said that Dunbar’s “isolated position” meant it had “specific needs”.

The police chief also welcomed suggestions about establishing a youth weightlifting and boxing club.

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