A youth worker has said teams across West Cumbria were fighting to support young people after a wave of dispersal orders.
Tracy McFadden, manager at Egremont Youth Partnership, said her staff and lead youth worker in charge Ella Carver and apprentice youth worker Ruby Butterworth have been working tirelessly to help educate and advocate for youngsters.
It comes after around seven dispersal orders targeting anti-social behaviour have been issued in Egremont, Whitehaven and Workington since the start of the year.
Some of the orders were issued after groups of up to 40 young people were spotted together on the streets of towns across the county.
Tracy has worked at the Egremont Youth Partnership for 12 years and has been manager for four years.
She said she believes young people are facing a changing world and that they need support and guidance now more than ever before.
Tracy said: “I wouldn’t want to be a teenager right now.
“The young people are feeling deflated and let down because they can’t even move down their own street without worry.
“I know some of the kids can be trying, but they’re only trying because they’ve been labelled.
“They only have to get in a little bit of trouble or be a bit mouthy and then they’re labelled for the rest of their young years and it’s just not fair.
“At the moment it feels like the community isn’t giving them a chance.
“In my eyes, these kids are our future, and we need to be educating them and helping them feel positive for the future.”
Tracy said the youth group’s intake numbers have doubled in recent weeks – rising from around 30 to around 66.
She added that while they don’t know the exact reason why numbers have increased, the large groups spotted on the streets are different friendship groups meeting up.
Tracy said: “Our normal numbers are around 25 to 30 but can go up to 35. But we’ve got this new group that have all started hanging about together.
“So our numbers have now gone from 41, to 46, to 60 and now to 66.
“But we would take 100 young people if we could, we’re here to support them and give them a place to go.
“It’s young people from different areas that all go to different schools. So when they all meet up it looks like ‘wow, what are these kids doing’ and to be fair, they’re not doing anything.
“They’re either going to youth club or going to a friend’s house or trying to find a place to meet together.”
Tracy added that young people are using social media to meet up and are also being exposed to more information online than ever before.
She said: “A lot of our young people are in the sports clubs and have part-time jobs, it seems to be Fridays when there’s no training that they are meeting up.
“But because of social media we get world questions all the time. I’ve recently had them say Tracy, is there going to be a war?
“It’s things like that that run around their heads.”
Tracy added she also worries that empty high streets are making it harder for young people to find affordable activities to keep them busy locally.
She said: “We recently took 26 young people to Hollywood Bowl in Carlisle and that’s how far we have to travel to be able to do anything as a youth group.
“There’s not many shops or affordable activities in Whitehaven or Workington and these kids are bored. “
Tracy said that social media discussion when police issue dispersal orders has also been hard to deal with.
She added: “When the police post about dispersal orders online, people start getting at the young people and blaming the youth clubs, so it has been a hard couple of weeks for us.
“As a whole, the youth club is doing everything we can to make it different for them.”
Tracy said that behind the scenes, the youth club have been holding regular workshops for their young people on anti-social behaviour and its impact on the community.
One evening session in February saw a total of 66 young people attend.
Tracy said the sessions help young people think constructively about their impact on the community and ways they can support each other to make good choices.
Staff have also been staggering the amount of young people released at once from the youth club to help prevent large groups forming in the town.
The group also works with the police and recently invited PCSOs to play pool and chat with their young people.
Tracy added that both her and Ella also check the streets in their own time after the youth club closes to make sure young people are safe and not in large groups.
She said: “We have started staggering them and letting them out in groups of eight and five to make sure they’re not all leaving at the same time.
“When we close at 8pm we are then in our own time having a wander down the street and if we see them in big groups, we’re moving them on and splitting them up safely.
“We’ve been doing that for a few weeks now and there’s been no bother.
“But when police say they’ve driven around and there’s been no anti-social behaviour it makes us feel good.”
Egremont Youth Partnership is also part of the Copeland Youth Network – a group that connects six youth clubs across Copeland.
The clubs work together and meet every three months to share information and ideas to support young people in the area.
Tracy said: “Copeland really has some of the best youth provision out there.
“Our meetings are all about sharing what we’ve been doing in each area and all these youth clubs have been running for years and years.
“But sharing our thoughts and work means if one area is struggling, other youth workers will step in to offer help.”
Tracy said teams across the network have also been working hard to support young people and tackle anti-social behaviour in their area.
She added: “The young people are listening, and we’ve gained that trust and respect with them because they know our staff are on their side.
“They’re on board and they understand the consequences of their actions and how it could look and we’re now trying to help them build a good relationship with the police.”
Tracy said she believes more support from local organisations is needed to help tackle anti-social behaviour and give young people more of a chance.
She added: “Some of our lads if an older person fell, they’d be the first to go and pick them up.
“We’ve just had a £135,000 refurbishment and all those lads were also down filling tips for us and doing bits and bobs and people just don’t see that.
“But until the day I decide to retire, I will fight for young people.
“They’re our future and it’s as simple as that.”
Sergeant Neil McKinnell, of Cumbria police’s Allerdale Neighbourhood Policing Team, said dispersal orders were a way to proactively prevent issues from occurring.
