Youth Provision Feasibility Study
The Burley Youth Initiatives Working Group was a partnership between the Burley Community Council and the Burley Youth Forum established in 2000. It started work following a survey of needs among young people in the village in 1997/8 by the Burley Youth Forum. There was a desire for a better youth centre with café facilities, an outdoor sports area, and more evening activities.
Funds were raised by the Youth Forum and a basketball court was installed on the Recreation Ground in 2000. Following the closure of the old Youth Club in the former Primitive Methodist Church premises at the end of Sun Lane, representatives of Bradford Council, the Shipley Area Coordinator's Office, Burley Community Council and the Burley Youth Forum agreed that a survey into the feasibility of alternatives for Youth Provision should be carried out. Funding was obtained and a professional study of various options undertaken.
The outcome was a persuasive argument for the refurbishment of the Queen's Hall to make it more suitable as a community centre for the village, incorporating facilities for young people including a youth club. The Group also sought to provide a Shelter in Grange Park and the refurbishment of the pavilion on the Scalebor Park sports ground and the construction of new changing rooms on the village Recreation Ground.
The Group disbanded in February 2004 having achieved the major part of its objectives. The Queen's Hall was closed from September 2003 to February 2004 and, with finance and resources provided by Bradford Council, as well as some voluntary contributions, it was upgraded to the delight of the village.
The Shelter in Grange Park was built in 2003 and serves young people in the evenings and some parents during the day, while their children use the village Play Area.
The Scalebor Park pavilion was also refurbished with money from David Wilson Homes, the Community Council and local Sports Clubs. In May 2005 a skateboard park was completed on the Recreation Ground fulfilling the original objectives that The Youth Forum had set itself.
The provision of changing rooms at the Recreation Ground is an ongoing concern for the Sports Clubs who use the fields there.
A copy of a report has been lodged with the Burley Community Council, the Shipley Area Coordinator's Office, Wharfedale Ward District Councillors, and is available via the BCC.