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YOUTH MOVEMENT HIT OUT AGAINST YOB STEREOTYPING 26/09/05

Date: 26-September-2005


Members of Cymru X will be launching a petition to be handed to the Social Justice Minister at the Welsh Assembly, Huw Lewis calling for a National Strategy of Youth Facilities for young people in Wales. This petition will be targeted in the Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr areas so as to put pressure on the Merthyr AM to provide social activities for those in his Constituency and to apply a strategy Nationally also. Cymru X Young Plaid Cymru Ifanc will be holding its first Merthyr and Rhondda Cynon Taff branch meeting at Clwb y Bont in Pontypridd on the 1st of November at 7.30pm where they will be discussing this issue in detail.

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Chair of Cymru X Young Plaid Cymru Ifanc said:

‘We are aware that young people are continually labelled as yobs who have no interest in the wider community. Our local papers are dominated by stories of youths on our streets, and while we recognise that we cannot condone violent behaviour we must look at the root cause of these problems. In the Rhondda, the situation is such that there are hardly any places for young people to go after getting home from school or work. We should be providing schemes for young people- more youth clubs, social centres for young people so as to allow them to channel their energies positively and to play a key part in regenerating our society,’

He added:

‘The petition will be submitted to the Minister early in the new year, putting pressure on the Labour Government at the National Assembly to budget for social facilities for young people as opposed to placing ASBO’s on young people, and pushing young people further to the fringes of our society’.

Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central said:

‘ Without proper investment in to social activities and social centres for young people, we will continue to see young people on the streets with little or nothing to do. In Ton Pentre we have seen attacks on local shop owners. This is totally unacceptable, but Police Inspector Alun Morgan acknowledges also that ‘ kids have nowhere to go’. If we had enough schemes in place to allow young people to channel their energies into activities arranged for their benefit then I am certain that crime would not be such a large scale issue in the Rhondda. We must tackle this situation now, and I urge people to join in Cymru X’s campaign for better facilities for young people in Wales’.

Ends- For more information contact Bethan Jenkins on 07725144100.