Labour councillors blame loss of youth club
Labour Hammersmith Broadway councillor Steve Cowan says
the closure of a youth club in Fulham means youths are wandering the streets and getting into trouble.
He said:" Latest figures show that in the last month, Fulham Police have sent thirteen warning letters to young people in Sands End. All have all been alleged to be involved in anti-social behaviour."
Mr Cowan says he has been inundated with complaints from Sands End residents since the Castle Club play and youth centre was sold off by Hammersmith and Fulham Council for £5million.
The building is now being converted into a luxury private house.
Fulham resident and former Labour councillor Brendan Bird said: "I’m not surprised. There is now a noticeable increase in the number of kids hanging around on the streets since the closure of the Castle Club. "There has not been any appropriate replacement of facilities. Instead, Hammersmith and Fulham Conservatives sold the Castle Club off as a luxury private house despite it being bequeathed "for the care of the children of Fulham" by Laurence Sulivan in 1855.
" The Castle Club was an after-school play centre for kids aged between 5 to 11 and in the evenings it was a youth club that specialised in IT and photography for young people aged up to 16.
"Clearly anti-social behaviour needs to be dealt with but I also believe that Sands End desperately needs facilities that will be both attractive to young people and use up their energies in a constructive way”
April 4, 2008