Tyler Clancy

A YOUTH club has returned to council control in a development described as a “victory” by campaigners.

Platform Youth Hub, based in Hornsey Road, Holloway, provides a range of free services for young people, from walk-in youth sessions to free time in its music studios.

While the building belongs to the council, the service was until recently run by Isledon, a local social enterprise.

The financial impact of Covid-19, however, left Isledon unable to bid to renew its contract at Platform when it came up for tender last year.

A contract was awarded to Fourth Monkey, a drama school, along with youth services Beyond the Box and the Brandon Centre, but these operators have now withdrawn and Platform has automatically gone back to be run by Islington.

Tyler Clancy, 18, a “youth advocate” for Platform who has been pushing for clarity on who would be running it in recent months, said: “We’d be reaching out to all the people we could, but we’d just get an automated response, or they would put out a statement.”

Fourth Monkey said: “As further detail emerged after the tender was successful, it became clear that we could not take on the management and operation of Platform in the way outlined in our proposal.”

Council reps have now promised to hire more staff, maintain the hub’s walk-in youth sessions and safeguarding leads, and keep open Gain Ctrl, a free music program for young people.

Mr Clancy said: “In a way it feels like a victory – a takeover by a drama school should never have happened. I hope they have a better understanding of how much damage has been done. Now it’s about holding them to what they’ve promised us, and holding a light to what’s happened.”

Islington said “the contract was fairly and correctly awarded following a thorough procurement process, to the strongest organisation in the tender”.

The council’s children’s services chief, Labour councillor Michelline Ngongo, said: “We are absolutely determined to make Islington the best place to grow up in, and we’re committed to providing even better youth services for all our young people in future.”

She added: “We’re also committed to getting more young people in the area – including those already using Platform – engaged in discussions about the future of youth service provision and how it can be improved.

“We’ll keep holding regular open meetings with young people and will share more news about future provision as soon as we’re able to.”