An intervention by Gainsborough Member of Parliament Edward Leigh has helped prevent the closure of the town’s YaSiG (Young and Safe in Gainsborough)youth education and counselling centre. YaSiG provides numerous services and opportunities for young people from the ages of 13 to 24, including alternative education courses, training, and advice.
While the centre had been in danger of going into administration, Mr. Leigh wrote urgent appeals to West Lindsey District Council and Lincolnshire County Council arguing for them to offer help in ensuring YaSiG remains open and continues operating. The district council decided to offer a six-month support package, waiving the centre’s £45,000 indemnity, which will allow YaSiG more time to prepare for its long-term, sustainable future.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 20th December, Edward Leigh praised the varied work of YaSiG for the services they offer for Gainsborough youth.
“[YaSiG] provides for people between the ages of 13 and 24 who have fallen out of education and it co-ordinates a number of facilities for young people. It gives them a safe place to meet and socialise,” Mr Leigh told his fellow MPs. “It runs, among other things, a very successful motorcycle maintenance course, which I have visited, operating outside the classroom and providing just the sort of training opportunities that many young people need.”
“If we really do believe in projects that further the Big Society and provide for the most deprived people in our community, we cannot let them go out of business,” Mr Leigh said in his Commons speech. “We should co-ordinate efforts to save them and to help our young people in the future.”
Roy Pell, chair of YaSiG’s board of trustees commended Edward Leigh MP for his “impressive speech” and for all the help Mr Leigh provided the organisation.