Green light for £1.5m Shrewsbury youth club

The new site will replace buildings that have been there since 2008

Plans to demolish a run-down youth centre and replace it with a new purpose-built facility have been given the green light.

The SYA site will be built on Upton Lane in Monkmoor and replace buildings that have been there since 2008.

Shropshire Council approved the development, saying it would "much better serve the needs of the charity".

SYA said it hoped the new youth centre would improve the services it offers to young people in the county.

A report by planning officer Jane Raymond said that while the current buildings were 15 years old, there had been a youth centre on the site since 1987.

It added: "The use of this site to provide youth club accommodation has been the established use of this site for over 30 years. Its continued use for that purpose is considered to be acceptable in principle."

One objection was received from a resident, who said he and others were concerned about anti-social behaviour.

The report said the behaviour of youths in the neighbourhood "cannot be attributed to the existing or proposed youth club and that an improved facility would hopefully have a positive impact."

SYA - formerly Shropshire Youth Association - announced the project earlier this year after securing a £1.5m grant from the Youth Investment Fund and a 99-year lease of the site from the council under a community asset transfer.

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