Old school could provide facilities for the community
THE community of Hillheads in Whitley Bay is one of the most concentrated pockets of deprivation in North Tyneside.
Hillheads is also almost adjacent to Monkseaton High School.
It is planned to demolish the old Monkseaton High School upon completion of the new school, in September – in fact, the contract for demolition has already been put out. This seems rather a waste.
The runaway success of the Linskill Centre in North Shields has shown
that old school buildings are priceless.
A huge range of worthwhile voluntary and community activities becomes possible once some form of accommodation can be obtained.
These can range from adult education, to helping people back to work, food co-operatives, youth projects, art and music projects for young people.
The new Mayor, Linda Arkley, has prominently committed herself to a
programme of youth projects, to tackle youth crime and juvenile delinquency. This would be a valuable opportunity for the new Mayor to provide facilities for these projects, to which she has wisely committed herself.
The cost of these projects is usually much less than the cost of crime and policing. Likewise, projects to provide training, provide support, help people back to work, all generally produce net cost-savings, overall, and boost the local economy.
Moreover, there is a general need to find extra accommodation for youth training, due to the government having raised the school-leaving age to 18. From next year, all 16-18-year-olds must be in full-time school,
training or employment.
Although Monkseaton High School may have out-grown its old buildings, it appears that a large proportion of those old buildings are still in reasonable condition and could still have plenty of life for alternative uses. There is no shortage of uses looking for buildings.
This will be an interesting test for the new administration.
NATHAN ALLONBY
Percy Avenue,
Cullercoats.
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Weather for Whitley Bay
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 7 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
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