I fundamentally disagree with Poppie Webster’s headlined choice of location for the new Youth Zone (October 23).

Nevertheless, it is exceptionally good news that Basildon is to have a Youth Zone. But why does it have to be right out in the cold behind the vets in Ashdon Way.

It needs to be so much more central. I have always seen it as occupying the car park at the corner of Southernhay with Great Oaks - a far more superior and central space, connecting it with the cinema and the college.

Not since the Tories knocked down the old Arts Centre, which specifically had events designed for our young people, has there has been anything here over the past 30 years. Since when our young people had to seek an alternative: they have been moping around the town centre in search of whatever entertainment they could find.

So, I don’t agree with Andrew Baggott and I fail to see “that opportunities which are out there for kinds aren’t signposted enough”, which supposedly were there when he ran the Basildon administration - and they weren’t found then.

Likewise, I think Gavin Callaghan is making a big mistake in putting the railway line between our young people and their unusually, fantastically adaptive endeavours. The Youth Zone is going to add more to the local economy than the cinema will ever achieve in this age of live streaming.

As ever, politics is getting in the way of progress as it has always done in our town. Unity of purpose - that’s what we need.

VIN HARROP

Rosslyn Road, Billericay

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