Youth Provision in North East Bedfordshire
Posted by Alistair Burt, MP for North East Bedfordshire, at 12:59, Mon 19 March 2007:
I receive a lot of emails and letters from young people in my constituency who are concerned about the lack of activities that there are for them to take part it. What are your views on this matter - what do you think can be done to encourage youngsters to become more active in the community?
There is currently a proposal in Langford to build a motorcross track. This is something that a lot of youngsters support, but equally, residents are concerned about the noise. How can issues such as these be addressed in order to create a balance that suits everybody?
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Posted by Thomas Meehan, 13:45, Mon 19 March 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
I really don't think that the answer to the problems of (from the youths' point of view) youth boredom or (from the non-youths' point of view) youths on the streets, is the construction of specialised facilities such as motorcross tracks, skate-parks, or even football pitches. Surely these are only of any interest to a small (and in the case of motorcross, monied) proportion of young people. Furthermore, they are not much use outside of daylight hours.
Looking at the 'problem' of young people on the streets with nothing to do, it seems that they do really enjoy the entirely laudable activities of being with their friends and talking to each other. Adults do exactly the same down the pub, in cafes, etc, where young people are not so welcome. I'm really not sure what the answer is: some sort of youth club idea springs to mind, but that must have gone out of fashion for some reason, probably as much because authority (e.g. churches) are providing and policing it. As I see it, young people need somewhere safe, cheap, warm, and dry where they can congregate without disapproval and with displacment activities available (such as beer and pool provide in a pub), but which is not condescending or provided with the intention of keeping young people out of everyone else's hair.
Posted by APRILL KEIGHLEY, 19:26, Mon 19 March 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
I fear Thomas may have missed the point and not looked at the big picture. We have owned and ridden motocross bikes and feel we can give an intelligent, and informed point of view. So here it is…
We are now in a culture where are children are supposed to be active, but can’t go out alone as we did in the 70’s and before, so now we have an obesity problem. Riding on a motocross (Moto X) circuit (or practice track) is hard work, you don’t realise how energetic it is until you actually do it.
While we where growing up we just wern't interested in football etc and we still aren't. Far more than you realise would love to ride Moto X, if there were somewhere to ride. I feel if this issue had been addressed far earlier the minimoto problem/fad wouldn’t have occurred.
Well run Moto X practice tracks are often frequented by families, or at least half the family, with boys and girls (girls are sometimes better riders than the boys), mixing with the rest of the enthusiasts of all ages 4 to 60+yrs. Teenagers mix very easily and on circuit there is no age barrier, this can only be good.
Concerning money, if ‘some’ parents can afford plasma TV’s, smoke 15 a day, or a minimoto or two, then a couple of hundred quid for an old dirt bike with no MoT, shouldn’t be too hard. The other alternative is kids will have to get a job through the summer as I did when I was a lad, then use a paper round to pay to keep it running. And they’ll have to learn to look after it or NO bike to ride!
If a track is to be commissioned, I would highly recommend a high wall of earth surrounding the circuit. A similar method has been used for the Great Barford by-pass and has proved rather effective. It is very low maintenance and when grassed will not spoil the countryside.
We wish we could bring up our childeren up in an earlier time where they have more freedom. We still remember being energetic young kids, so even if you don’t have kids, and you are uncomfortable with the thought of a Moto-X track nearby, please stop to think of a way to solve problems rather than just saying NO.
Aprill and James
Posted by Rupert Holland, 22:04, Mon 19 March 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
I disagree with Thomas Meehan; far more people than you would expect would take part in motorcross, and perhaps this would bring some beginners into the sport as well.
Regarding the noise, I'm sure an agreement could be reached on opening hours of the track, and the number of bikes allowed to run at one time, with both residents and users, that would solve the problem, as well as Aprill's suggestion of a mud wall around the track.
Thomas raises a good point however where he says how youth clubs can be seen as condescending by older youths especially, but snooker/pool halls aimed directly to cater for young people (limited/no alcohol on sale, etc) for example, would hopefully deal with this, as well as the potential for less well-off kids to miss out because of financial issues, which could be an issue if a motocross track was built.
These facilities also have to be advertised widely, and designed specifically to appeal only to young people, especially those over ~14, but not yet old enough to be welcome in pubs. This would give young people a place to get away from adults, away from the sense of authority at youth clubs, and off the street, to have fun, develop a skill at a particular sport, and hopefully live healthier and more active lives as a result.
Posted by Paul, 22:45, Mon 19 March 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
I agree with Thomas. It seems a UK adult obessesion with trying to dissect and understand the teenage psyche. Teenage years are generally filled with confusion and irrationality. What has changed is the lack of places for them to hang out with each other, and get rid of that pent-up teenage steam. Given space and left to their own devices, they can work their own entertainment out, as we did and no doubt our parents did before us. Maybe the UK could stop trying to manipulate the path of childhood so much, and let children grow up in their own way. How it has been going obviously hasnt worked, as we now have generation that has seen a huge rise in lazy overweight disrepectful kids, who are turning into lazy overweight disrepectful adults. As for statement kids "cant go out" - why? Because the media paranoia frenzy has left us with a nasty suspicion of any male who even looks in the direction of children. But the UK loves to have its opinions driven by the tabloids, that much is sadly true.
Kids will make mistakes, do the wrong things, as they have done for eternity. Our role should be that of steering, not making excuses for them, or ourselves. Give them the space to be teenagers. The biggest problem today its not the kids, it's the rather disappointing level of ignorance in adults in this country. And what they are passing on to future generations.