What do the kids want?! Southmead Regeneration

The kids have spoken!

This week the Southmead Regeneration team visited the Youth Centre to find out what the kids thought of Southmead. Its no secret that some adults have felt intimidated by gangs or have been unhappy with the kids behavior, but what is the other side of the story?

Well it turns out the kids are not too happy with the adults either! There was an overwhelming response when asked what they dislike about the area, that they thought people smoking, drinking and doing drugs was a bad influence and they did not like to see it in public. There were concerns over littering and they felt Southmead was “dead” (which for us oldies means ‘boring’!)

Its not all doom and gloom though, almost all of the kids made a point about the community, living near friends, kind people and the social merit as something that they liked about the area. Of course they liked having a Youth Centre too!

So what did they want to do differently? Notably they felt if they had somewhere to go after the Youth Centre closes they would not feel the need to loiter in the street, it was suggested having somewhere to ride their bikes would keep them out of trouble elsewhere in Southmead.

Some wanted a skate park, some wanted a swimming pool but almost all wanted a better variety of shops, places to eat and a better looking area.

 

Seems like the kids and the adults are not that different after all!

As always you can:

II     follow the Regeneration here     II     Comment or ask questions here     II     Find out more about the Youth Centre here