At the Radstock Town Council meeting councillors were told that they needed to " Get in the game" and make plans for the youth of the town.

Services for the youngsters in the town are going to change as the existing Children's Centre, which hosts Youth Connect sessions is long term going to be put up for sale.

Youth Connect's Sam Plummer told councillors that he has been told the building will be sold - for about £250,000 with the money going into funding of the new facilities at the new Hope House centre.

But he was hoping that the council would consider ways of keeping a space for Radstock youngsters who councillors agreed have had a poor deal of late.

He told councillors over Zoom : " It is a long way off, (and later told them the Children's Centre have told them they can stay) but it would be good if we could get together a plan for a business case for keeping the building. The sooner the better, we could put together a plan with how the building could be used in other ways. "

The problem was, councillors were told, that the building, along with the library, needs substantial investment to be fit for purpose.

Youth services have been set aside space in the health centre, but they are told this is " Just a hall with a small kitchenette and it is on the second floor. So it is not ideal."

Cllr Chris Dando said: " Even if there is an asset transfer - and that is by no means certain - we need sums to maintain these buildings. We need a proper business plan, an idea of money and who the key users would be."

With so many things happening at the moment in Radstock, the Cllr told the meeting : " We could have a holistic solution to this. We can start now looking at what options we have, while these big changes are coming to the centre of Radstock we have an opportunity to get us in the game."

Earlier Cllr Bruce Stearn said: " I am confident we can have an asset transfer of that building. Then we can plan what we can do with it and make the most of it, with nobody talking about money at the moment."

Cllr Nick Toogood, who also seconded the motion: " We need to look at starting some plans here. While all these changes are coming to Radstock I don't want to see the youth of Radstock with nothing."

Cllr Elizabeth Derl-Davis in supporting the motion said: " I would also like to note that honestly that the youth in Radstock have had a bad deal (until now)."

Later Sam told Nub News about Youth Connect South West which is a charity and has had a presence in Radstock and Westfield for over 30 years.

He said : "Radstock Town Council and Westfield Parish Council have both been extremely supportive and have shown a real commitment to support young people locally."

The charity provides at least two sessions a week where young people can take part in activities and have support if they want it. They provide support and informal education on a range of issues which affect young people such as sexual health and mental wellbeing.

The sessions are on Mondays and Wednesdays 7pm-9pm and currently held at the baskets courts on Church Street because of the coronavirus regulations.

For more information on the sessions people can contact kelly Barresi on [email protected] or 07875488782.

Sam added: " In terms of a vision for the future of Youth Connect, we intend to increase the amount of opportunities for young people in the local area. Back when I started as a Youth worker 13 years ago, Radstock had a full time youth worker based at Radstock Youth Club with sessions at the club and outreach across the area including Tyning, Haydon and Writhlington.

"The club had a sports court, music studio, art space and a garden. As the Funding for Youth Work was gradually reduced a lot of this has been lost... sustainability is the key.

" I'm hoping that we can work with the parish council to retain and create a community space where young people have access to a brilliant facility where they can relax, learning and develop skills for life."