Two young ladies from Kesgrave High School recently wrote to Keith Beecroft, the Council Chairman, outlining their ideas for additional facilities for young people in Kesgrave. They thought two such facilities could be a swimming pool and a cinema. The following is the reply Keith wrote on behalf of Council. The young people concerned wrote again thanking Keith for all the information and it was felt this could usefully be put into Kesgrave News and on the Council website for the information to be shared more widely.

Thank you for your e-mail informing me of how you feel about the facilities for your age group in Kesgrave. You have outlined some interesting ideas and I have to agree that we are in need of further facilities to occupy and provide recreation for our expanding Town, which has a higher than average number of younger residents.

First of all I would like to give you an indication of the limited budget that the Town Council has available which has to cover the cost of providing the services to all age groups in our Town. Each household in Kesgrave pays on average £35 per year to Kesgrave Town Council as a portion of their Council Tax. This is spent on items such as some street lighting, providing litter fido bins and seats around the Town, part funding the library and one of our Community Support Officers, maintaining our office and meeting room, maintaining the Lawn Cemetery and the Millennium Sports Ground and wages for our valuable staff members and so on. From this short list of examples you can imagine that there is not much left for any major projects.

Our most recent provision for youngsters was the multi-use games area at Cedarwood Green. Projects such as this cost a huge amount of money and have to be well planned ahead of time and saved for. There are other ways of raising funds such as grants from Government, other local authorities and the lottery fund. However, this is not always easy to achieve with the stringent rules that apply.

The swimming pools at Woodbridge and Felixstowe are run by Suffolk Coastal District Council and operate at a loss and therefore do not provide any direct revenue for either of the Towns. They do have a spin-off in bringing people into the Towns and thus possibly adding to their economy.

Over recent years attempts have been made to provide some of the items you suggest. The Community Centre tried to provide and operate a small cinema which, unfortunately, after a few weeks had to cease due to the lack of support. Maybe it was difficult to select suitable films, maybe the venue did not have the "right feel", maybe the seats were too hard for comfort – for whatever reason it was found not to be viable.

A few years ago the Bell Inn, in conjunction with the local Safer Neighbourhood Police Team, provided an alcohol-free room one night a week for use by the youngsters. This was a room where youngsters could enjoy each others company, soft drinks, music and games in a safe supervised place. However, again, this had to close due to the lack of support.

A small roller skating area is a good idea and one that I shall be taking forward to the council for consideration by the Recreation and Amenities Committee. This Committee meets every few months and has a rolling programme to discuss the provision of facilities in Kesgrave and are currently working on a number of ideas and projects, some with other agencies, such as looking for a suitable site for a skate park.

You may not be aware that there are already a number of groups and organisations that do provide activities and recreation for your age group. There are two evenings available at the Youth Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays one run by the Church and one by Community Education. There is a youth evening provided at The Community Centre Sports Hall on a Wednesday evening, primarily for basketball but there are other activities available. Suffolk Coastal District Council in conjunction with the Community Centre and local schools provide holiday activities such as dance mats, climbing walls, training for circus skills, a mobile skate park. The church groups also put on holiday activities. There are of course several other clubs and groups within the Town which provide a wide range of activities from tennis to cycle speedway, from drama to art as well as the traditional Scouts and Guides.

Further information can be seen on the Town Council Website or Suffolk Coastal District Council’s "coastal potato" site.

I think that Kesgrave is a great place to live. We are a Town that has recently seen a major increase in population. We have great schools, some good pubic open spaces, a good network of cycle ways and footpaths and many other benefits. Yes, we are lagging behind other towns that have developed over hundreds of years and have shopping parades, large parks, work areas and entertainment such as swimming pools and cinemas. However with a younger population such as you, who are interested and concerned about their community and the environment, we will slowly get there, one step at a time.

Thanks again for your ideas and interest, I hope my reply doesn’t sound too negative and gives you a little insight into our work as a council. I look forward to meeting you at the forthcoming Youth Forum meeting. It is usual at these meeting for issues involving attending youngsters are dealt with early in the meeting so that they can depart and leave the boring bits to the adults.