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Pioneering Yate youth cafe to become national model
The £1.3-million project will see the cafe built on land at the back of the town's leisure centre.
It is a scheme that has been on the cards for many years, with Yate Town Council taking the lead and talking with teenagers to find out what they want in the building.
Despite a series of negotiations and setbacks, the commitment to get the cafe open has been sustained by youngsters and town leaders.
Now the council has pledged its half of the cost – £650,000 – with the other half coming from South Gloucestershire Council, whose ruling Cabinet recently approved its part of the funding.
Yate councillor Chris Willmore, chairwoman of the project steering group, said: "In more than 25 years of developing projects for Yate Town Council, I can genuinely say this has been both the most complex to put together, but also that it offers the opportunity to be the most innovative to date.
"There is no model anywhere in the UK that will offer quite the blend of facilities from the commercial – not-for-profit – cafe and disco, to the upstairs training and development opportunities. This will be a national model and is already being looked at by others."
The aim of the cafe is to provide somewhere that will be open seven a days a week outside school hours. It is likely to be open from 4pm to 10pm Mondays to Thursdays and until 11pm on Fridays.
It will be open from noon to 9pm on Sundays and from 11am to 11pm on Saturdays and in school holidays.
Young people will be able to meet up for a coffee and chat with their friends in what will be a cheap and safe place for them to spend time.
It will have DJ decks, local bands will use it as a venue and youngsters interested in learning about catering and who are not in education, work or training will be able to take a first step into a potential career.
They will act as assistants to the staff employed in the cafe for a limited number of hours a week and if they want to progress, will go on to more extensive training.
Ms Willmore said: "The opening date set is April 2011. We've already done lots of consultation with generations of young people, who we have to thank for their patience and perseverance.
"They've taken every problem and pitfall in their stride and have been brilliant throughout.
"We will give their successors what they had the foresight to see was needed."
The next round of consultation on the design of the cafe is due to take place in September.
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Comments...
By Craigthatsme at 22:24 on 06/02/10
Are you the same person that tried to become a UK Youth Parliament member for South Gloucestershire but was rejected?
I was rejected when I tried to join the council (co-opt) a few years ago. Heterosexual people say they live in a democracy, but we cant even get a fair foot in the door. The council is friendly with the Press and they blocked my campaign issues from getting into the newspapers.
But it's not all bad news, soon the council will have a "duty" to promote democracy and how local gay people may get involved in its decision-making arrangements as well as the role of councillors and how to become one. With particular focus on under-represented groups (gay's).
After the council blocked me I lobbied government ministers and Stonewall about what they had done and this legislation is in part, my fault.
Anybody wishing to join my campaign for a gay (LGBT) youth group in Yate can find me on Facebook under the name "Craig Denney"
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By Sophie_rose at 20:37 on 02/01/10
I'm a 'gay youngster' and i've lived in Yate my whole life, luckily, I have never been too severly bullied but my best friend was terribly bullied in the school he attended.
It is absolutely ridiculous the way a lot of people in Yate seem to think in regards to the gay members of the community.
I'm 19 now and I'm planning on really getting involved with the community this year and this area is something i'd absolutely love to help as much as I can with!
I think it is a difficult subject to cover though, it's easy to offend and wording has to be perfect! and it's vital to make sure that such a project does not just alienate gay young people further.
But, being a very well liked and respected lesbian young adult who can take an awful lot of conflict, I think I'd really love to get some sort of drafty idea up together for some sort of project/ campaign.
I'll admit, I have been quite narrow minded because up until reading this, I didn't think anyone in the Yate community gave a monkeys about us young gays!
Sophie Simmons
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By Craigthatsme at 15:53 on 27/12/09
Hundreds of gay youngsters do live in Yate actually!
Yate has a population of 21,789 people. 6 - 7% of the Population is Gay or Lesbian, that comes to 1416 individuals. Using the 2001 Census (for Yate) the percent of youngsters between the ages of 10 - 25 years old comes to 18.8% and 18.8% of 1416 is "266" Lesbian & Gay youngsters living in Yate!
And what is Yate town Council doing for these youngsters? NOTHING!
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By Moscowowowooo at 22:58 on 20/11/09
I doubt there are 'hundreds' of gay youngsters in a town as small as Yate, but you have a valid point, craigthatsme, and the issue should be fronted up and dealt with.
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By Craigthatsme at 19:54 on 10/09/09
She promised 10 years ago that Yate would have a gay youth group in the town and that the proposed Youth Cafe was the place to have it and now she has broken that promise!
Soon the new Equality Bill will force Homophobes within the Council to support minority issues like supporting the hundreds of gay youngsters in the Town.
This council is still discriminating towards it's minority communities, citing it will upset the BNP if they the council supports the minority communities in the town.
Here is the proof of discrimination, key word search their websites for words like gay, ethnic and black on google: "gay" site:yatetowncouncil.gov.uk the one word link is the only word on there entire 408 page website!!!!!
The Liberal Democrats aren't as liberal as you would think.
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By vshippellie at 14:29 on 01/09/09
This sounds fantastic, I have a 14 year old daughter, who like many teenagers are longing for somewhere to hang out with friends in a safe environment.
My only hope is that it is appreciated by all, and that it's around for long enough that future generations have the opportunity to enjoy it.
Vicky Shipp.
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