Purpose

Youth Zones are large state of the art youth
centres based in areas with high levels of young people, aimed at
inspiring, occupying, supporting and keeping young people safe. The
centres are built and run by a local youth organisation – in
this case Youth Moves – and are supported by a third sector
organisation called Onside. Funding is through a combination of
central and local authority funding, philanthropy, and grants. In
March 2021, Cabinet approved a mandate for Youth Zone in south
Bristol to raise outcomes and aspirations amongst children and
young people.
In September 2021 a suitable site was identified and permission
sought from Cabinet to develop proposals and return to Cabinet for
a subsequent decisions regarding funding. Cabinet on 24 January
2023 authorised £4M contribution to the cost of building the
Youth Centre and £3.275M for enabling works for the site
(including an access road). BCC’s contribution to the capital
cost of build should have been £4.2M, the additional
£200k required will be taken from the enabling works budget,
and as such the spend will remain within the overall envelope
approved by Cabinet.
Cabinet also authorised a 3-year revenue commitment of
£400,000 per annum to be taken from the overall Youth
Services budget across the City from 2026/27. The Cabinet Report
stated that the pre-opening year of 2024 and the first year of
operation in 2025 costs would be met by partner contributions from
OnSide obtained from central government. The delays have meant that
the funds can now only be found for the first 6 months
post-completion, as central government funding obtained for the
project must be spent before 2025.

Content

To:
1. Enter into the following agreements with Youth Moves:
a)Capital Grant Funding Agreement in the sum of £3.8m
(£395k has already been spent pursuant to separate
agreements) to assist with funding the construction of the Youth
Centre
b)Revenue Grant Funding Agreement in the sum of £1.2m to
assist with meeting operating costs of the Youth Centre for a
period of 3 years
c)Development Agreement under which Youth Moves will be granted
access to the site to build the Youth Centre
d)Lease of 125 years for a peppercorn rent and no premium of the
site on which the Youth Centre is to be situated, to commence once
the Youth Centre building is completed; and
e)Operational agreement (relating to the operation of the Youth
Centre by the parties).
2. Provide revenue funding under the Revenue Grant Funding
Agreement from 1 April 2026 (rather than after the first full year
of operation as specified in the cabinet report);
3. Grant the lease to Youth Moves (rather than OnSide as specified
in the cabinet report)
4. Transfer £200k from the budget approved for the enabling
works to the Site to the budget approved for contributing the costs
of building the Youth Centre.