Ludlow MP to raise concerns over youth club space
Shropshire MP Philip Dunne has agreed to raise teenagers' concerns over plans to use part of their youth centre as offices for Shropshire Council staff.
The Ludlow MP was speaking after a group of young people and their supporters, including former councillors, disrupted his constituency surgery on Friday afternoon.
About 30 teenagers and youth workers marched through Ludlow to the town's Conservative Party HQ on Broad Street to picket. The are incensed by Shropshire Council's plans to give over two thirds of the Ludlow Youth Centre building in Lower Gladeford to create office space for council staff from Stone House, in Corve Street.
Chanting "No ifs, not buts, no youth centre cuts", they demanded a meeting with the MP, who invited group leaders in to talk.
Afterwards, Mr Dunne said: "I received a delegation of four young people plus a parent from amongst a larger group who were disrupting my advice surgery, unfortunately encouraged by former district councillors.
"We had a good discussion in which some articulate young people from Ludlow made a strong case to retain the existing youth centre in Ludlow, part of which Shropshire Council intends to use to relocate some activities when Stone House closes. I undertook to raise their concerns with Shropshire Council on Monday."
Graeme Perks, Ludlow town councillor and a former member of South Shropshire District Council, said:"It is shameful the way Shropshire Council has treated the young people of Ludlow and those that work with them. A consultation process in April does not mean office conversion of youth space in February. Well done all those that turned out in the pouring rain to show their feelings."
Shropshire Council was unavailable for comment.
