(i)

the Radford Hide project had been initiated following the development of Badgers Wood when the old store building had passed to the Council to be used for environmental projects;

(ii)

that improvements to the site had included upgrading the building, formation of new footpaths, clearing out and enhancing ponds and building an outdoor classroom/seating area and link footpaths with bridges to Radford Woods;

(iii)

it was the latter of those improvements (seating area and footpath) which had caused a number of complaints about anti-social behaviour in and on the seating area;

(iv)

that over 200 leaflets had been distributed to residents in the area seeking their views and, as an interim measure, the path was being closed at night and reopened the next morning.  As a result, there had been a significant drop in complaints, however, the closing and opening of the paths on a daily basis could not continue due to the costs involved;

(v)

from residents of White Lady Road who expressed concern at the lack of consultation prior to installation of the decking;

(vi)

that a lot of good work had gone into redeveloping the site which was now a well-used community facility, particularly by schools as an excellent teaching facility.

(vii)

the Plym Youth Forum was a non-political, non-profit making, young person led voluntary organisation representing all young people between the ages of 13-19 which met every Thursday at 7.00 p.m. at the Morley Community Centre;

(viii)

the Forum had undertaken a survey of young people in the area to establish what it was that they wanted.  Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed, over 200 had been returned indicating that young people would like to have the following facilities available to them –

• Youth shelter
• Skate ramps
• Multi-use games area
• Places for young people to ‘hang out’

(ix)

a portable skate ramp was located at the Morley Community Centre on Wednesdays;

(x)

the Forum would be undertaking a further consultation to establish where young people would like the Youth Shelters to be located.

(1)

gate to Radford Woods continued to be locked at night and opened in the morning as an interim measure, pending the outcome of (2) below;

(2)

results of the Plym Youth Forum’s consultation to identify locations for Youth Shelters be reported to the next meeting.