Swindon: 400 'at risk' teens given free gym memberships

Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Police will give out 400 six-month gym memberships

Vulnerable teenagers at risk of substance abuse and criminality will receive free gym memberships to "fundamentally" improve their lives.

Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Police will give out six-month gym memberships.

The funding for 400 passes came from the proceeds of an illegal drugs crime.

Swindon Council head of youth transformation Michael O'Connor said all too often they get to at risk teenagers "too late."

Mr O'Connor said he is "hopeful" for the early intervention scheme

"We wanted to work differently and identify children at risk of substance misuse at risk of the substance misuse of their parents and try to find interventions that fundamentally change how they think and feel about themselves," he said.

"We identified a real challenge for some of our most vulnerable children in Swindon and one of the issues is often we get to them too late."

He said he is really hopeful early engagement with young people "divert them from a route that ends in criminality or substance misuse".

Swindon has seen a notable rise in drug and violent crime in recent years.

The town is one of the first areas outside of London to try the new approach, with senior police officers locally agreeing the proceeds of crime cash can be spent on the new gym passes.

"We know the indicators often come from issues of poverty abuse trauma and neglect within their family homes and if we can work with families earlier we know that it can have not only long term benefits for their children, but also for the wider communities in terms of offending and anti-social behaviour," he added.

Social workers and their colleagues will be allowed to join young people to chat in the more relaxed setting of the gym.

The passes are for GLL Better leisure centres, which run Swindon's publicly owned gyms like the Link Centre.

They are valid for six months, with an option to extend a further six months for young people who particularly engage with the scheme.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]