Our vision for the future

MODEL pupils . . . (back, from left) Josh Brierley, Alex Igoe, Paul Renton, Chantel Birtwistle, Sharmin Begum and Vanessa Parmar. Front: Wendy Connor, Rebecca Henshaw, Lorna Boulton, Charlotte Kilroy and Liam Turner

AMBITIOUS plans for a state-of-the-art youth centre, to be called Mahdlo, have been unveiled by creative teenagers.

Members of the Oldham Youth Zone development group have been involved with the process from the start.

They even went to London to meet architect Mike Davies to oversee the proposals for the centre which will be built on the site of the Marjorie Lees Health Centre. Members also organised consultation sessions with other local youngsters to find out what they would like to see happen with the new centre.

The group presented its ideas to councillors and local business leaders as well as youth development workers from Positive Steps and the council.

The next stage of the development is to formalise the design plans ready to be approved by Big Lottery in the autumn.

Laura Windsor, development officer for the Oldham Children and Youth Alliance, said: “These young people have worked tirelessly.

“The very essence of this development is that young people are at the heart of everything that gets done.

“None of them have had any experience of this kind of work so to give a presentation of that quality is fantastic.”