Sad to see such poor provision

I write in reply to a letter from an anonymous contributor in the February 23 edition, replying to my Letter of the Week.

In my letter I described reasons why youth provisions have failed. One was the adoption of a not-in-my-back-yard mentality by local residents, and two, council officers not consulting as fully as they could do in order to find a correct location for youth facilities. I feel the later explanation applies to Horsehay.

However, regardless of the reason the issues are the same. The majority of youngsters are categorised as yobs when it is a minority causing the problem. Moreover the majority of youngsters lose out. After speaking to local youngsters the general feeling is those who are causing the problems are not young people from the Horsehay and Lightmoor area, but from outside the ward.

The result of removing the shelter had caused a lot of disappointment among those who used it properly and also those teenagers who spent so much time organising the shelter.

Finally, I am not an ab-solute defender of young people. The group causing the problems that you describe in your letter should be punished. But I stress it is critical that the next generation of council tax payers should share in Telford's growth now, so they feel an ownership of the town.

I would be very interested in talking to the resident who wrote the letter and other residents about this issue. Please contact me at shaun4horsehay@hotmail.com or contact the Telford Labour Party office for my other contact details.

Shaun Davies, Telford