Lincoln's St Giles Community Centre to be transformed into a vibrant space for young adults
The YMCA will invest £1.5 million to improve the facility
The St Giles Community Centre will become “a real asset for the area” after a change of owners was approved.
The Lincolnshire YMCA will invest £1.5 million to improve the Lincoln facility, pending funding, bringing it back into full use.
Councillors heard that the building on Swift Gardens is currently used for just a fraction of the available hours.
Groups only make use of it for 10 hours a week, barely 10% of the overall time.
The Lincolnshire YMCA will be given a 25-year tenancy for peppercorn rent, provided it receives funding from the national Youth Investment Fund.
Lincoln city council leader Ric Metcalfe described the transfer as “absolutely marvellous” at a meeting of the Executive.
“What’s not to like about this? It’s slid into disuse, but this will hopefully bring it back into full use,” he said.
“Hopefully, we will get assurance that existing users will still have access to the building.”
Councillor Sue Burke agreed: “This will be an excellent use of a building and will be an asset to the area.”
It was noted that the St Giles area meets the criteria for the government funding to improve youth facilities, making it an “ideal location”.
The licence agreement with Lincolnshire County Council expired at the end of 2022, and the transfer is also expected to give the city council modest savings.
The renovation would help to address the lack of facilities in the area.
A youth centre was previous located next door, but this had to be demolished after an arson attack in 2016.
Director of Community Development Chris Kirkwood from the YMCA told us:
"Of course the idea of having a more permanent base in the north of the city was really exciting.
"Since lockdown we've developed a really broad church of youth development work.
"So when the City Council approached us and said would be interested in a community asset transfer of St Giles community centre to our ownership to run and refurbish of course we jumped at that chance.
"We aim to create an incredibly vibrant lively youth facility that gives young people living around that part of the city somewhere they can feel ownership of.
"Somewhere they can feel safe, where they can learn, where they can have fun, and have access to a range of activities and services ".