A Renfrewshire councillor has called for more funding from the Scottish Government to be dished out to create activities for young people – in the wake of a deliberate blaze in Johnstone.
Councillor Alison Ann-Dowling was responding to reports of a fire that was started metres away from a petrol station in the town during the Easter holidays.
The incident took place behind the Morrisons garage in Johnstone on Wednesday, April 12 around 8pm.
Fortunately, the blaze had fizzled out by the time the emergency service arrived. In response, police issued an appeal to help find those responsible for the fire.
While the culprits of the blaze have not yet been found, Councillor Ann-Dowling suggested that it could have been the work of disenchanted youths and questioned what kind of activities and facilities are available to distract young people from such acts.
The Labour representative said: “There would have been a real danger to life if that fire had reached the petrol station. That’s disturbing and completely unacceptable.
“There is an increasing number of incidents being reported in my ward and in other wards across Renfrewshire of anti-social behaviour, often led by young people.
“And I think that leads to follow-up questions that need to be asked around what kind of activities are available to young people, particularly during the Easter holidays and other school holidays.”
Councillor Ann-Dowling said that volunteers were having to step in to provide activities and facilities for young people.
She added: “Over the last 15 years or so, we have seen Scottish Government funding for youth clubs, youth workers, and venues that are free at the point of use for young people to use during the school holidays, vanish, to be replaced by volunteer-led efforts or organisations that depend on grant funding for their survival.
“While I think the people responsible for this, particularly if it is young people that have got nothing better to do with their time, are absolutely responsible for their actions, we do have to address the issue of if you don’t give young people anything to do it’s far more likely that they’re going to get up to this kind of mischief.”
She laid the blame of this at the feet of the Scottish Government, accusing them of not providing councils with funding, saying: “It’s the council’s responsibility to roll programmes like that out, but they can’t do so on fresh air”.
In response, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government provides a range of funding for youth work including grants, core funding and special initiatives.
"Local authorities also have an important role in delivering local youth work services, such as youth centres, youth groups and youth projects, which is why we are increasing the overall resources available to local government this year by over £793 million through the 2023-24 local government settlement.
“We are taking forward work to produce a new national youth work strategy which is due for publication in spring 2023. This will aim improve outcomes for young people in Scotland through a stronger better connected system that is inclusive of the needs of all young people.”
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