Exclusive; More than half of Birmingham's youth centres shut in 10 years

Exclusive figures reveal more than half of Birmingham's youth centres have closed down in the last 10 years. A freedom of information request shows from January 2011 to January 2021, 26 services run by Birmingham City Council were shut.

As we look into growing calls for a new youth centre following the death of a 14 year old boy in the city, our investigation shows 14 of the council run centres closed in one year alone, 2013.

Dea-John Reid was stabbed to death on College Road in Kingstanding in May, and since then campaigners have been ramping up efforts to open a new youth centre as a safe space for young people in the city. HIs family tell us they'd support the efforts to help tackle violence.

"Public services have been cut by more than £1billion between 2010-2019...here in the West Midlands we've lost 2,200 police officers...all of this matters."

Labour's Preet Kaur Gill is his family's local MP and went to the funeral - in an interview with us she says; "I really want to see us as a city really come together in Dea-John's name, in every young person that we've lost in our city, and make sure we leave a legacy and that we can have aspiration for our young people."

According to figures, there hasn't been a new youth centre for over a decade. Preet says: "We've got to see youth and community workers in every single community in our city, and we've got to make sure the engagement is there...because they themselves cannot affect change, and they are tired...and how many more tears do they need to shed before something happens?"

Young people say that they are too scared to go out in some parts of Birmingham following the death of Dea-John. They're adding their voices to calls for a new youth centre, saying that services in the city are too outdated for them.