A NEW APPROACH TO YOUTH JUSTICE

1.05.26pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 14th Aug 2008

Lib Dem Proposals put forward by Chris Huhne are welcomed by local activists. "The last ten years in the field of youth justice under Labour has been a disaster" says local spokesperson Cllr. Brian O'Flynn.

The Labour Government now spends 11 times more on locking up our young people than it does on backing projects to stop them getting involved in crime in the first place. Criminalising large numbers of young people is not the answer.

Lib Dems would:

Charge councils with drawing up Youth Community Plans for more youth activities, particularly in deprived areas. Plans should list community spaces and consult local people on their use.

Ensure funding for out of school activities for all young people be merged into one easy-to-access fund. At present it is almost impossible to find money for youth activities.

Give young people a say over where the money should go through local youth councils. That way they are more likely to use the facilities.

Promote regular sport, drama or arts-based activities that bring skill and experience with authority figures and constructive activity.

Protect all Childrens Play Spaces. Under both Labour and Conservative governments, playing fields and play areas have been sold off at an astonishing rate. They are still being lost at a rate of one a week!

Ensure that funds that have been promised for sport and children's play facilities are actually spent. The Government has promised three times since 2001 to deliver £200 million for children's play facilities, yet only £16 million has so far been spent.

Protect smaller playing fields by cutting the threshold required for sales from 0.4 hectares to 0.2. This was promised by John Prescott six years ago, but still has not happened.

Ensure that sport is given a much higher priority in the school curriculum. Despite £1.4 billion of government funding between 2004 and 2007, the time schoolchildren spent playing sport increased by only 14 minutes.

Cllr O'Flynn concluded by saying "Most young people are not criminals but they do need challenge and this is best offered through sport and play. Punitive policies that grab headlines have achieved little and it is time for a new approach. This paper shows the way".