Palmerston Residents Association Chairman Terry Hoey Responds To The Statement Made By Belfast Education and Library Board that appeared In the CT Bel

The Palmerston Residents Association have been in contact with the Education Board since 20th March2008 we were informed at the time the Board intended to close the Sydenham Youth Centre, as the Centre is situated on the Palmerston Road the Association felt it should have been consulted regarding the decision of the Board,the association have always taken a stand for the Community it represents. Our Constitution is founded on the basis of principals we will not go back on. We stand up for our Senior Citizens,our Disabled Community, our Youth,and our Ethnic Community.

The Palmerston Residents Association have always fought long and hard for the rights of the community, which is Sydenham in entirety, not as it is known by our officials as Sydenham One, Sydenham Two,and Sydenham Three, our community spreads to the whole of our community and that is Sydenham. We are proud of it and its history, we believe that our politicians and government founders should wake up to this, Sydenham is a community that has been ravaged by developers and by groups who act for our community who do not live here and do not see what their decisions do to our community.

We have ask the Education Board since the 20th March 2008 how it reached its EQIA under section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and how it carried out the consultation process to ensure all communities in the area had been consulted, how the information was presented to them and in what formats. Was the consultation process in accordance with the Guiding Principles set out by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, the main groups to section 75 categories Religious Belief,Political Opinion,Racial Group,Gender,Marital Status,Age,Persons with a Disability,Persons with Dependants, Sexual Orientation.

Our community should be consulted on how a public building that has cost tax payers money to build is to be disposed off. The Education Board has a duty to the community to fully consult with them before any action is taken to dispose or relocate a public building. We feel the Sydenham Community has not been properly consulted on this issue we have ask the Education Board many many times to hold an audit in the area, to enable them to find out what youth provision is required in the Sydenham area, and to look at groups from the disabled community, the Ethnic Community and people of different faiths. We felt that if groups where excluded it would sore up problems for our community in the long term.

The Residents Association would refer to the Education Boards letter of the 22nd July 2008 SM/CMcQ in its summary Paragraph 5, It is the view of the board that any adverse impact as a result of closure of the Sydenham Youth Facility was mitigated and therefore did not require an Equality Impact Assessment. We would also refer the board to its response to the Palmerston Residents Association under the heading 'Audits in the Area for Purpose of Closure' states I am unclear what you mean by audits in the area for the purpose of closure' I am unaware of any audits conducted in the area for the purpose of closure in these circumstances for this or any other BELB building. The original purpose of closure was to protect the health and safety of the staff and the users is a legal matter and is not an issue on which the BELB could or would consult local residents.

The Residents Association feel that if the building was closed on the grounds of health and safety to protect the staff and the users why then did it fail to disclose to the residents association what type of asbestos was in the youth centre and if it was that serious of a threat why were no hazard warning signs displayed around the outside of the building warning our community of the dangers that lay with in. We also requested in our letter to the Board 5th August 2008 to supply us with what measures have been taken to safe guard the public from entering the building and causing damage to the Asbestos.

The Residents Association has in its procession an audit that had been carried out in the area under the heading Sydenham Youth Audit Commissioned by East Belfast Area Youth Project and Strand Presbyterian Church. We refer to our letter of the 5th august 2008 under the heading 'Audits' we ask was the Boards Decision to relocate to Strand Presbyterian Church influenced by this audit. We refer to the Boards letter dated 10th October 2008 where it states the boards decision to relocate its services was explained in previous correspondence and was in no way influenced by the audit carried out by Converge.

The Residents Association feel that if any audit should have taken place it should have been screened under section 75, we feel the audit that took place for Strand Presbyterian Church should have been screened for the purpose of section 75 to make sure it had covered the main groups relevant to the section,the association feel the Education Board should have carried out an audit in the area to include all categories in section 75. The association are concerned the youth in the area who may not want to attend church will fall through the net,we feel this issue will not go away and it must be fixed before the youth in the area feel they have been sidelined.

The Residents Association meeting with the Education Board was in a response to their letter of the 10th Oct 2008 as it stated it wanted to meet with us once more. We ask the board to carry out an audit in the area to enable it to realise what youth provision was needed in the area, we also refer to their letter of the 10th Oct 2008 where it states the youth service in Belfast,in tandem with the other four education and library boards,will shortly be advertising a new registration process as the result of an equality impact assessment of the registration and grant aid schemes.This will be an opportunity for youth groups,including section 75 groups highlighted in your letter,to register with the board with the possibility of accessing future funding. The association is pleased by this statement but it fails to put right the wrong.In not consulting the community before it relocated its youth club to Strand Presbyterian Church when it could have relocated it to mobile classrooms in the area until proper assessments under the risk of asbestos be carried out by an independent assessment by the Health and Safety Executive

The Residents Association said before the meeting that it would not discuss with the board issues we have with the board in the management of the Asbestos, and why they deemed this building surplus to requirements due to the health and safety issues when other youth clubs have been upgraded. Health and safety issues in another building cost the board for security because it was damaged by fire and was deemed to be demolished, but then reprieved for further assessment. We can assure the board that we do not intend to let the issue drop until youth provision in the Sydenham area is audited under section 75 to include all groups who live in our community. We would also ask if the board carried out an audit in the area that covers all these groups would you please produce it to enable the residents association to close this issue.

Palmerston Residents Association Ask Is The Belfast Education (Youth ) Is Fit For Purpose In 2008 Do We Need Old Style Thinking On Youth Provision Or

The Palmerston Residents Association has been campaigning for some time trying to reverse the decision of the Belfast Education Board to close the Sydenham Youth Centre we have felt that Education Board had made a wrong decision we lobbied them to hold a audit in the area to take into account the views of our young people and our disabled and ethnic groups we have ask to have this carried out by an independent source we have requested this form our first contact with the Education Board and also at our meeting 17th October 2008

We felt at that meeting we could have come to some form of understanding with the Education Board on how it sees the youth provision in the Sydenham Area we felt that this would be the way forward,to our dismay it was not what the Education Board was there for it just did not want to try and reach any understanding at all,and railroaded over our concerns regarding youth provision in the area to our dismay.

The Residents Association is a fully constituted association and represents our community, we know the need for this centre and we feel it is vital link for our youth,we see it as a place of learning and involvement we know the youth in the area need this facility. We are aware the majority of youth want to have a neutral area to enable them to take ownership of it. We believe now more than ever the Education Board needs to look at their youth department and who heads it up and ask its self is it fit for purpose in 2008.

The association looks to other parts of the UK and see how they understand the needs of youth, millions of pounds are spent on youth by Play England and Play London we must draw into question why our young people are not worth the same. If we are trying to build a peaceful and exclusive society we have to look to our younger generation. Millions of pounds are spent on buildings making land marks yet we can not do the same to provide our young people places to meet or play. We ask the Education Board to read the insert on youth clubs published in the London Play News Oct 08.

Youth clubs help to cut antisocial behaviour, according to recent research from Clubs for Young People
(CYP): the umbrella group of 3,000 UK youth clubs. The study reveals there is a relationship between the
number of Asbos issued and availability of youth clubs: more Asbos are issued in places where fewer
youth clubs exist. It also finds there are more children per youth club in deprived areas. Clubs for Young
People is involved in the Blueprint project which aims to set out a plan for fun and effective youth centres.
Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive of Clubs for Young People, said: "Young people rightly deserve high
quality facilities in their communities which is why it's important that we lead a discussion on what turns a
community facility into a world class provision where young people can have fun, learn and grow as
individuals. (London Play News)

children regarded freedom, physical activity and areas to socialise with friends as the most important
elements of good play provision. However, barriers to play included traffic, bullying, stranger danger,
racism and negative adult attitudes such as areas with ‘No Ball Games’ signs. The single most common
barrier to play was physical distance from play areas which was a particular problem for disabled children(London Play News)

The Palmerston Residents Association ask the Education Minister to look at its (youth)Department and question themselves are they fit for purpose. Are they looking after the needs of our younger generation or pushing the youth where they do not want to go.

Palmerston Residents Association Meet With The Assistant Senior Education Officer (YOUTH)Of The Belfast Education Board Regarding Youth Provision In T

The Palmerston Residents Association with Its Chairman, Vice Chairman, Youth Worker, Drink and Drugs awareness worker and the representative of the East Belfast Community Development Agency, met with the Assistant Senior Education Officer (Youth)on Friday 17 Oct 2008 the meeting was to establish the views of the Education Board in regard to Youth Provision in Sydenham East Belfast.

We wanted to raise with him the Associations concerns that an audit in the area would need to be carried out to establish the needs of the youth in the area. We also raised concerns regarding suicide in the area and the lack of facilities that are now in the area for youth who slip through the net of the local churches known as detached Youth.

The Association has felt for some time now that the need to try and give the youth in the area a sense of belonging in the community was needed, to help them restore confidence in the area and to try and bring about change of attitudes in the local youth. We have felt for some time that the youth provision in the area was none existent or that it is so much out dated that the local youth cannot identify with it.

The association believes that an audit should have been carried out in the area to establish the needs of the youth in the area, and also establish the feelings of the youth regarding the use of local church as a venue for a youth club, the disabled and mental health community would also have to be taken into account where programs would have to be improved to meet their needs.

We have felt for some time that if we want to have full inclusion of all the youth in the area it would have to be carried out under section 75, equality screening to enable the Education Board to reach the different nationalities that are now living in the area, also the disabled community and people suffering from mental health issue. We feel this would be the only way the Education Board could identify the needs of the area.

The Association attended this meeting to raise its concerns with the Education Board and attempt work with the Education Board to bring about change in the Sydenham area. We as an association felt that the Education Board would have been interested in our local youth and the problems they have, we assumed they would have been interested in finding out any problems they were having and work with the association on how they could be solved.

The association felt the Education Board would have been interested resolving the issue of an audit in the area and become aware of the needs of our community, some of which are disabilities, suicide and mental health. I as Chairman of the Residents Association have attended countless meetings with MLA's and other official bodies, and I have never experienced such a lack of interest as I found in the Education Board. In fact we had to remind the Youth officer that it was our children and other peoples children that we were talking about.

If this education officer represents the official thinking of the Education Board and represents the face of the Education Board then we are in serious trouble and the youth are in even bigger trouble. We now ask the Education Board to review the training of their officers in how to conduct themselves at a meeting of concerned residents. We would also question the training of the officer in attendance at the residents meeting he failed in many ways to grasp what the meeting was about or how to resolve issues that were raised,we would strongly advise the Education Board to issue this officer the basic tree structure of the board to give him some idea where the different departments are managed and who directs them.

The association is sorry to say that because of how the officer conducted himself at this meeting and the lack of respect he held for our community and its views, we felt there was no other action we could take but to close the meeting with the officer, we are sorry we had to take this action but we felt there was no alternative.

Palmerston Residents Association Chairman Sends An Open Letter To The Education Minister For Northern Ireland And Her Chief Executive Requesting Answe

Dear Minister and Chief Executive

The Palmerston Residents Association has been in contact with you and your department for some months we have been asking for answers to questions that I feel are very important. We require answers to why Asbestos was used in the Building of the Youth Centre on the Palmerston Road Sydenham Belfast.

We also requested copies of the minutes of meetings that had taken place over a two year period with other groups to enable us to have a grasp of the feelings of the participants involved in the meeting at that time.We have also stated from our first contact with the board that a proper audit be carried out in the whole area of Sydenham and Ashmount area, to involve every household to enable the Education Board to gauge what Youth provision was needed in the area and what type of youth provision was required.

The Education board has continually said they felt there was no need for an audit in the area I as chairman of the residents association totally disagree with the Board. I feel that as the Board held talks for two years on a major issue as moving or shutting down a facility such as the Youth Hall the first thing that should have taken place was to ask the community and seek a wide range of expression in the area.

We have said from our first contact that the need for an audit was vital purely because the facility is the only neutral building in the area apart from Inverary Community Centre that is booked out most time, the need for the Youth Club In the area is vital for the younger generation of all communities in the area and is vital to the growth of the Sydenham and the Ashmount areas, the board in its attitude to the audit is totally flawed as it seems to feel it has no need to find out what people who live in the area want. The board fails to recognise the changing population in Northern Ireland and the need to be fully inclusive of all communities and the needs of the disabled communities in the area.

I as chairman ask the Education Board to think again on this Youth Hall the need for it in our area is vital to enable the community youth have a place they can go to and claim as their own. The need for youth workers in the area is also vital to help our young community deal with the pressures it is under in our way of life today,never has young people in Northern Ireland needed such a facility as now. We see other parts of the UK spending millions of pounds on it youth through Play England and Play London the government has recognised the need for our young people to have places for play and recreation. If we want to tackle the problems that our younger generation have to face today.

I look at other parts of the UK that I have lived in and how the youth is provided for and it makes me feel disgusted

In other parts of the UK young people attend rock concerts, make records, skate board centres and adventure playgrounds. In other parts of the UK they have not had to tackle thirty six years of violence yet our young people are at the end of the line when it comes to youth provision, we see our young people committing suicide because of the baggage they carry around with them, reports show East Belfast is becoming one of the highest places for suicide. The DSD has deemed it an area at risk.

I also know our mental health services are stretched to bursting as it has been under funded for years, I have seen our younger community trying to deal with mental health problems like never before, they have so many problems to deal with yet they are the ones that are forgotten in Northern Ireland. We spend millions on public enquiries, but find it hard to fund mental health for our youth.

I ask you the Minister of Education and The Chief Executive to rethink your plans on the Sydenham Youth Club and give it back to the young people of the area, if the Board has sold it buy it back then hold an audit in the area and find out what the young people in the area really want, show us that the Education Board has vision and they are looking to the future and not having tunnel vision in the needs of our young community.

The Sydenham Youth Club has not been in use for over two years it is falling into disrepair, the Board say it is because the building has asbestos in it, then take your opportunity to answer our letter to you and clear up the points we have raised, all we ask from you are answers as to why our young peoples Youth Club lies closed, when other parts of the UK are spending millions for youth provision yet the Board decides that it would cost too much to refurbish it and bring it to a standard where disabled people could also use it. I feel this is a nonsense as the building is approximately twenty years old. How could this be right how can you put a price on the future of the youth in the area?

Terry Hoey

Chairman Palmerston Residents Association

Palmerston Residents Association Intends To Call A Public Meeting With Regard To The Sydenham Youth Club And The Education Board For Northern Ireland

The Palmerston Residents Association intends to call a public meeting after it consults with its executive committee this month the association has been in contact with the Education Minister for Northern Ireland and the Ministers Officials and Chief Executive at their Belfast Headquarters 40 Academy Street Belfast. The Chairman of the Residents Association is intending to call this meeting due to the lack of a response to its letter to the board of the 5th August when it raised concerns regarding Health and Safety issues at the Sydenham youth centre Palmerston Road. We would ask all interested parties who wish to attend this public meeting to please contact us by email at campaigns@palmerston-residents-association.org or by fax to 02890200988