As a result of Hestercombe LCN identifying youth provision as one its top priorities, the Children and Young people (CYP) working group was formed to look at youth provision across the LCN , and to identify the gaps and the barriers – both to councils providing provision and to young people
participating in that provision. Each Parish has agreed to 5 percent of their budget to match fund the potential SALC funding. So, the hope it there will be a rural focussed offer for Youth Provision in the next financial year, with a focus on retaining the existing Creech St Michael and North Petherton existing offers but making these accessible to all the young people of the LCN parishes.
In regard to the Taunton Local Community Network, the CYP working group is continuing to meet currently mainly as a networking space, but looking at how it can work with the Town Council and other stakeholders to develop some specific offers. Taunton Town Council recently looked at a Youth Bus Initiative, but this has gone back for more detail to be considered. In North Taunton I am supporting the Network Meeting that used to be convened by the One Team, this looks likely to be a space for agencies to engage and has the potential to become a neighbourhood meeting. There is also discussions in the planning stages, for a Summer event around Basketball in Wellsprings, but aiming at being a draw to link up the community with the offers in the North Taunton area.
