Stratford District Council Plans Help for Village Youth Groups

Villages around Stratford-upon-Avon could get help to start or strengthen youth groups from next year, after the district council’s Cabinet agreed on 2 November to look for a specialist provider. The Youth Catalyst Project has a budget of £41,000 a year for three years, £123,000 in all.

The council’s report gives a stark reason: over the past decade, it says, statutory youth provision across the district “has largely disappeared”. Stratford itself has the Stratford Youth Collective, but outreach work reaches only a small number of larger places, and targeted help usually comes only once a young person’s needs have grown. Rural provision ranges from Shipston-on-Stour’s model, which the report calls successful, to informal efforts run by parishes.

What the money pays for

• £31,000 a year for the provider’s core service: training, networks, help with safeguarding and governance, and development work in communities.
• £10,000 a year in ring-fenced grants to establish, expand or test youth provision. This is part of the £41,000, not on top of it.
• At least 10 priority communities over the three years. The specification is clear this isn’t a promise of 10 new youth clubs, and that a small population alone shouldn’t make a village a lower priority.
• A say for young people in shaping the priorities, and planning alongside housing growth, so new estates aren’t left without provision.

What councillors said

The Cabinet agreed it after a debate you can watch on the recording. Introducing it, Cllr Liz Coles, the portfolio holder, said youth work isn’t within the district council’s remit, but the council was noticing the effect on communities, and that people setting up a club often need help with safeguarding and paperwork. Cllr Sarah Whalley-Hoggins, the Reform UK group leader, welcomed it, but said that for many in her ward provision was close to non-existent and questioned whether it would go far enough, or fast enough, given the numbers of young people not in education or training.

What happens next

The tender timetable in the specification has documents going out on 16 November, bids due in early January and a contract awarded in February 2027, with work starting soon after. Those dates can change. The specification says the council will work with the provider on which communities to prioritise; none has been named yet.

The project sits alongside the Cabinet’s other decisions, including housing land supply. More at council news.

Alex Harrington

Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.