Plans for neglected centre to help families

The council said the MySpace building at Parkfield in Paignton has never been "fully used" by local families

A neglected building in Paignton, in Devon, that was designed to be a flagship for Torbay’s youth services could form part of a new strategy to help local families.

Torbay Council said the £6m MySpace building at Parkfield, which was built in 2011, had "never been fully used".

Bosses now hope it can help families whose children have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The council is working with community and voluntary sector partners to draw up a strategy.

'Do things better'

Inspectors who looked at SEND provision in 2021 concluded that Torbay’s services worked in "silos" and did not collaborate enough, although the council is now working on improving collaboration.

"We really must do better for our children and young people," said councillor Nick Bye.

"We are simply not making the progress we need to make, and we will be judged poorly.

"We are failing some of our most vulnerable young people. Some families have basically given up on school. We have got to do things differently, and do things better.”

Councillor Chris Lewis said: "I want to make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes we have done in the past.

"We've got to engage with the local community and the youth of Torbay.

"We've got to start as we mean to go, and if we do that, MySpace and Parkfield will have a great future."