Burnley Space Bus - Burnley Borough Council

Burnley Space BusAnnual Review

How we have made a difference toover 6000 young peoples lives ...All Aboard - Royal Seal of ApprovalOur year ended with a special visit from HisRoyal Highness, the Prince of Wales, who openly talkedof his admiration for the work SPACE has done insupporting Burnley’s young people.This review aims to tell our story of how we achieved our RoyalSeal of Approval, how we have made a huge difference to so 3500young lives across the borough and how we hope to progress inpartnership with agencies and most importantly, with young people.ALL ABOARD THE SPACE BUS!Bus Stop One – First stop research…The need for the SPACE bus was highlighted in a major survey of almost a 1000youths in the Burnley area carried out by The Participation Works and fundedthrough Burnley Council’s Elevate funding.Young people said they wanted somewhere to chat with friends ina safe environment, somewhere in which they can take pride andfeel a sense of ownership, and somewhere they have actually setup and developed.73% said that if they were shown respect and given responsibility, they wouldchange their behaviour and 86% said they wanted a facility with internet access.Bus Stop Two – What drives our busOur bus is driven by an identified need to reduce one of the major types of crimein Burnley, criminal damage. SPACE aims to reduce overall crime and disorder,anti-social behaviour and nuisance associated with young people in partnershipwith young people.Through working in partnership with young people, barriers are broken, trust isestablished and young people can confidently talk about issues affecting them,which in turn allows agencies to give support or take action.But it’s not just about the individual, it’s about looking at an issue like drug oralcohol abuse and focussing both on the individual and on the impact of theirbehaviour on the local community to reduce the fear of crime, improve the localenvironment and resident’s quality of life.2

Bus Stop Three – Achieving the correct bus fareFunding for the SPACE bus totalled around £140,000 and camefrom the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, European RegionalDevelopment Fund, Government Office North West, and theCommunity Safety Partnership. Match funding was also provided byBurnley & Pendle buses, PC World and Safer Travel unit at LancashireCounty Council.This has allowed the purchase of a double-decker bus, it’s complete refurbishmentand installation of six laptop computers with internet access, two Xbox gameconsoles, two Playstation 3 consoles, a flat screen television with DVD player andmusic system as well as facilities including a chill out area, information zone andconfidential ‘big brother’ style diary room.The funding also allowed Burnley Council’s Sports Development to purchase atrailer full of sports equipment to accompany the bus to it’s various locations, so ifthe bus is full, activities can take place outside.Young people were asked to name the bus and decided upon a logoof their choice and so the bus came to be called S.P.A.C.E (SocialPlace for Activities, Chilling out and Enjoyment).AimBus Stop Four – How the wheels go round and roundAimSPACE bus was launched on 16th May 2007.Staffed by qualified youth workers from The Participation Works, as well as partneragencies ranging from Teenage Pregnancy/Sexual Health, Sports Development andvolunteers, SPACE journeys out six nights a week, from Tuesday to Sunday between4.30pm and 9.30pm (10.30pm Friday & Saturday).Burnley’s Multi Agency Problem Solving (MAPS) team identify ‘Hotspot’ locationsfor SPACE to travel to, based on information and intelligence from partneragencies, including the Police National Intelligence Model daily briefings, andinformation is stored on young people visiting.These figures show just what a huge impact SPACE has had in its first year:Total no of attendees over 10,000!1st time attendees 7000+Referrals to partner agencies 150+ICT support to attendees 1000+Young people Signposted to other agenciese.g. drugs services, sexual health 900Community Cohesion events attended 223

Bus Stop Five – Going in the right directionSPACE has allowed staff agencies to visit ‘hot spot’ areas and engage with hard toreach individuals in their own back yard, providing them with IT, leisure facilitiesand a wide range of advice and support and it is working.The numbers of young people using the facility averages45-50 each night with up to 100 at weekends.As a result of this, the levels of criminal damage andanti-social behaviour have been considerably REDUCEDby a staggering total of 885 incidents!Overall this has resulted in far fewer people being victimised and over 1000 lessdeployments for Police Officers.In one area, Burnley Wood, there was a 39% decrease in criminaldamage and an 18% decrease in ASB over the ten-week periodSPACE was deployed.Local residents and previous complainants unanimously support SPACE and havestated that there is less crime, disorder and nuisance when the bus is present. Aresident wrote a letter to local newspaper, the Burnley Express, stated that duringtwo-week visit by the SPACE bus, ‘yobbish and anti-social behaviour has stopped’’,that ‘this has brought some peace to the area’ and expressed ‘a big thank you toeveryone concerned’.4

Bus passes with flying colours –Anecdotes of Achievement• Young people queue and wait for SPACE to arrive in some locations and youngpeople travel to access the bus• Two groups of youths, of differing ethnicity, resolved disputes and now sharethe bus and play football together• A number of youths have been able to utilise IT facilities which they statethey do not have access to at their home addresses• A youth stated confidentially to one of the youth workers that he had ‘notbeen stealing for two days’ because of having something to do on SPACE• A local youth centre has had to provide an additional nights activities eachweek as a result of the numbers of young people attending after beingsignposted there by the youth bus staff• Youths having asked for and subsequently receiving careers informationabout the construction industry from Vedas Recruitment and being offeredpossible placements• Workers aboard SPACE identified a possible ‘at risk’ child and that family isnow working with a Parenting Support Worker• The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have showcased SPACE inBrussels as an example of good practice and effective use of their fundingand they are keen to send a delegation to visit the bus in the next fewmonths• The Home Office invited project workers to showcase the SPACE bus as agood practice case study at a recent ‘Celebrating Success Conference’ andhave included the project in the new National Crime Strategy, ‘Cutting Crime- A new partnership 2008-11’.Changing lives and attitudesAs a result of engagement with the Space Bus here are two examples of howthe lives of two young people involved have been turned around:A young girl had some traumatic events in her life and being involved withthe project has resulted in her becoming a Police Cadet, volunteer onthe bus and has persuaded her to take an academic route with a view toattending university.A young man who was truanting from school and stole a youth workershandbag from the bus has engaged in the Restorative Justice Process and asa result is now back in full time education and volunteering on the bus in hisown and other areas.5

Bus Stop Six – A Right, Round, Royal TripOur journey started through talking about our Royal Seal ofApproval and now we are back again to explain just how His RoyalHighness, Prince Charles, came to find himself on the SPACE bus on21st February 2008.Prince Charles has a long-standing affiliation with Burnley calling it a ‘remarkablyspecial town’ so when His Royal Highness announced a visit to see the borough’sregeneration, work of his many charities and wider youth engagement work, theSPACE bus was identified as a great example.The Prince spoke to the people who developed the idea, youth workers and, mostimportantly, the young people who access it and whose lives SPACE has improvedin many ways.His Royal Highness was so impressed by SPACE that after the visit we received thefollowing letter of future support:The Prince Of Wales has asked me to write and thank you mostwarmly for showing him your remarkable Burnley Youth Bus. HisRoyal Highness was hugely impressed by all that you have achievedand the bus is clearly making the whole difference to young peoplein Burnley. The Prince Of Wales only hopes that the continuinginvolvement of his charities in Burnley will enable you to expandthe existing service you provide.Elizabeth Buchanan – Personal Private Secretary HRHAs a result of the visit, Business in the Community, one of the Prince’s charitieshas pledged support for the existing bus and the provision of a second youth bus. Afurther pledge has been made to improve other youth facilities across the boroughover the next few years.6

Bus Stop Seven – The wheels keep turningSo it may have been a round trip, beginning and ending with His Royal Highness,but our next journey promises to be bigger and better than before with morelocations for more young people to take part in more structured activities and usemore services.Already, SPACE has attracted interest from the Lancashire Global EducationCentre who will run an Arts project, One of the Prince’s charities, “Business in theCommunity”, has made a commitment to part fund the future running of the busand are hopeful that they can provide a second bus in the very near future, theWorking Neighbourhood Fund has committed funding too and The Football Leagueare looking into the possibility of each of their football clubs buying and runningtheir own bus in their local areas.It is anticipated that in the future community volunteers will comeonto the bus and engage with young people who live in their areaenhancing community cohesion and providing young people withrole models, training opportunities and realistic ambitions for theirfutures.SPACE turned from research to reality, from an idea to an active tool to preventcrime and anti-social behaviour, and the most pleasing aspect of it all, is that itworks.Thanks to all those who support the SPACE bus and to all the youngpeople who have helped make it a success.7

SPACE Bus has been a massive success, youthengagement beyond anyone’s wildest dreamsThere has been a noticeable reduction in incidentsof Criminal Damage and Anti-Social Behaviour in theareas where the bus has been locatedVery impressed, one of the highlights of the day wasseeing the work going on with young people via theSPACE bus. HRH the Prince of WalesIt is anticipated that in the futurecommunity volunteers will assist withthe project and engage with youngpeople living in their area. This willenhance community cohesion andprovide young people with role models,training opportunities and realisticambitions for their futures.contact ust: 01282 411182 f: 01282 411182e: info_participationworks@yahoo.co.uk51 Daneshouse Road, Burnley BB10 1ATDesigned & produced by Communications and Graphics, Burnley Council 2008. [t] 01282 425011. Job_3123