Youth workers have accused Islington Council of failing the borough’s most vulnerable teenagers by selling off youth centres to turn them into “yuppie cafes”.
The charges were made at the annual Islington Crime and Safety Summit on Saturday 5 March. The event, hosted by the Safer Neighbourhoods Board, brought councillors, police and residents together at the packed Islington Assembly Hall to address youth crime and gang culture in Islington.
The audience heard from Safer Neighbourhoods Board chair Roz Miller, councillors Paul Convery and Richard Watts and police borough commander Catherine Roper.
Residents and youth workers at the meeting criticised the speakers, saying they had failed to address the root causes of youth crime.
Youth worker Janette Collins attacked the council for reducing youth care provisions. She told Islington Now: “I don’t buy into anything they’ve said.
“They did have youth clubs around, but they cut the funding to the voluntary sector and got rid of the volunteers who were running them. They cut the youth centres and turned them into yuppie cafés.
“They’re cutting services to suit the new generation, to gentrify. They say regeneration – it’s not, it’s social cleansing.”
Mrs Collins also criticised Islington councillor Richard Watts for failing to make progress since previous summits, saying: “It’s the same thing we spoke about last year, and it hasn’t moved forward.
“He [Mr Watts] is sat there talking like a politician, not like a person who comes from the actual community. He’s trying to further himself and feather his cap.”
Mr Watts rebutted the criticisms, arguing that the council had ring-fenced youth funding. He said: “We’re the only council I know that hasn’t cut funding for youth services. In fact, in our last council budget we put more money in them.”
While the council injected a further £500,000 of extra funding into youth services for the year 2016-17, Mr Watts conceded that he was unsure whether funds were being spent in the most effective manner.
“The problem we’ve had in Islington is lack of integration – seeing life from the point of view of those young people struggling. I am not sure we are currently seeing the bang for our buck,” he said.
Volunteer youth worker Desmond Riley argued that money was not getting to volunteers.
He said: “The council is not supporting young people by splashing this little bit of money. It’s not trickling down. We are far removed from all of this.
“The people on the ground, who are actually working with the parents and the young people, are not getting recognised.”
Members of Islington Youth Council also criticised the board for failing to connect with young people, observing that they were the only under-18s at the event.
Newly-elected Young Mayor Darey Cletus, 14, said: “We feel our voices are falling on deaf ears. For one thing, there’s not a lot of youth here. Apart from one friend we brought with us, no one else is here.”
Mr Convery and Islington council strongly refute Mrs Collins claims, and assert that no youth centres have been sold of as “yuppie cafes”.
During the event, residents had the opportunity to vote for community representatives to sit on the Safer Neighbourhoods Board. The six candidates addressed the hall for two minutes each, followed by a ballot.
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