Hopes are still alive for a major youth project in the middle of Bristol that seemed dead in the water when the city council blocked vital funding last week. The National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has promised £4.25million towards refurbishing the old Victorian magistrates court in Bridewell Street into an enterprise hub for deprived young people, says the project remains a “high priority”.
Creative Youth Network (CYN), the charity behind the plans called The Courts, had expected to receive the final allocation of money it needed to begin work on the £6.4million centre. But Bristol City Council refused to support the £758,000 grant from the West of England Combined Authority (Weca), dealing a devastating blow to the scheme and jeopardising the rest of the funding.
The decision was greeted with anger and disbelief, with metro mayor Dan Norris calling it “appalling” and “nonsensical”, and 50 influential Bristol organisations and individuals in the creative, youth and business sector had signed a letter urging the Weca committee to approve the money. Now, though, the National Lottery Heritage Fund has pledged to work with CYN in its search for alternative sources of finance to bridge the gap and says the clock is not ticking on finding that.
