EXCITING and ambitious plans put forward by a leading member of Stow Youth Club are more than a pipe dream and could see the facility move into purpose-built premises in the town.

Alun White, the chairman of the youth club's board of trustees and a member of Stow Town Council, said the club desperately needed new premises as the current site, which was the former fire station, is the major stumbling block.

"Numbers of young people aged 10 to 18 attending the youth club has dropped over the years because of where it is. It's on the dangerous Fosse Way that sees around 20,000 vehicles per day. Taking young people across it to play games in the cricket field is a nightmare. The club is also away from the area of the town where most of the young people live," he explained.

"Another problem is that more and more families have both parents at work or single working parents. It's difficult for them to come home from work and bring their kids up to youth club. Because of worries concerning child safety they don't want their child to come up unattended."

Mr White said the club, formed in 1967, provided a valuable service to young people helping all abilities develop self confidence, social and development skills.

He said numbers of attendees had dropped from between 40 to 50 each week to 20 or 30. Sometimes that number could be as low as 10 and appeared to be because the building is not in the right place.

The youth club acquired the current building 10 years ago and used a £180,000 Lottery grant to carry out improvements and install equipment and leases a room to the town council for its meetings. The town council awards the youth club a grant of £7,500 per year which goes towards the annual running costs which are a minimum of £25,000 per year. They have also had small grants from the district councillors and other local sources.

The trustees are looking at selling the current building and building a pavilion on the King George V playing fields off Oddington Road which would be available for community use. It was adjacent to where a lot of the young people live and would be safer for them to access.

"It is not a pipe dream and we are hoping to develop this with the co-operation of the town council," said Mr White.

"I have made informal inquiries with the planning department at the district council and they have no objection in principle,

"We have been sending out questionnaires to all households asking people their opinion and asking them what they are wanting from the youth club and we have been awarded a £4,000 grant from the county council through county councillor Nigel Moor towards a feasibility study for which we are very grateful.

"We are hoping to involve the community in this, perhaps ask for patrons or develop a Friends of the Youth Club who would be willing to subscribe maybe £10 per month to it. We are also looking at getting some income from community use of the pavilion," he said.

The results of the questionnaire will be collated after they have been filled in and returned in mid-June with a view to progressing the project later in the summer.