The objective of this project is to enhance and enrich the Town Council’s current youth service offer with 3 additional ‘pop up’ sessions during school holidays.
Project aims:
The 3 additional pop up sessions will include a Christmas Party with Christmas themed arts and crafts and cooking, and two theatre and music workshops including a free meal.
Hestercombe LCN was initially awarded a seed grant to engage with young people from across the eight parishes of the LCN. The aim of this project was to establish if young people feel included in their communities, if they have a voice and if they feel able to meaningfully contribute to their communities. The LCN also hoped to identify what young people current do in their spare time, what they would like to do and establish if there was a need for developing a new youth provision. This scoping phase included a survey and face-to-face consultations with young people carried out by youth workers.
The research element of the project to establish young people’s needs has included:
Hestercombe LCN was subsequently awarded a large grant for the continuation of the youth research using activities to attract YP in the spaces where they are and to increase the understanding of their needs. The seven councils within the LCN committed to matching the grant funding amount from their precept for the 2025/2026 financial year, based on the number of young people under 15 in their parish. The findings of this research have then been put into practice by working with sports, music, art and drama organisations alongside youth workers.
Activities delivered across the LCN:
This project will be led by Minehead Town Council in partnership with Minehead Middle School. Following the tragic Cutcombe Hill Coach accident in July 2025 that deeply affected the community, this project recognises the importance of providing long-term wellbeing support for the children at the school. The project will create a programme of health and wellbeing activities delivered after school, weekends and school holidays.
Activities will include:
The focus will be on activities delivered on-site at the school, or off-site within safe walking distance, ensuring that children feel secure while still being able to experience variety. Where appropriate, the project may also support carefully planned off-site activities and local trips, as these provide opportunities for children to reconnect with the wider community. Working with local organisations such as the youth club, Regal theatre, arts groups and sports providers will help strengthen links between the school and the local community, ensuring that children not only benefit from positive experiences but also feel more connected to the people and organisations around them.
This project is aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of young people in Minehead and Watchet LCN by helping to reduce physical and mental health issues, promote healthier lifestyles, and provide a more supportive environment for young people to thrive.
Funding will establish a dedicated full-time Young People’s Health Coach role which will be hosted by Minehead Eye, ensuring strong collaboration between Minehead Town Council, Minehead Eye and the West Somerset Primary Care Network ‘Living Better’ Neighbourhood Project.
Key project objectives:
Targeted Mental and Emotional Health Support: In addition to universal services, the Health Coach will help connect young people with more specialised support, delivered by the Living Better project. In particular the coach will be able to access and attend the multi-disciplinary team focussing currently on low school attendance.This will help ensure that young people in need of more intensive support can access it in a timely and effective manner, and regular clinical supervision sessions will be provided by both a senior Health and Wellbeing Coach and a Mental Health Practitioner.
Collaboration between Community and Healthcare Professionals: The partnership between Minehead Eye, Living Better, and Minehead Town Council allows for a seamless integration of youth work and health services, benefiting from the expertise and resources of both community and healthcare professionals.
South East Somerset LCN undertook a feasibility study to understand the current availability and gaps in youth work provision within the LCN and to asses the viability and options for increased youth provision within the LCN.
This LCN wide project is all about getting young people more engaged and helping those who might be struggling. This grant will fund youth outreach services across the LCN such as games, sports and social events to build trust and steer young people away from anti-social behaviour. The aim of the project is to give 13-19 year olds something positive to do while making the community safer.
Shepton Mallet Town Council were awarded a seed grant to support the establishment of a Youth Council in Shepton Mallet. The primary goals of this project were:
In the process of this project, it became clear that many issues were affecting young people in the town. Shepton Mallet Town Council were awarded a main grant to engage with local agencies, statutory services and community and voluntary groups along with other stakeholders to access, compile and analyse existing data relating to youth provision within Shepton Mallet and the wider LCN area. The project will also engage directly with young people through informal and formal engagement to ensure that their voices are heard clearly and build into the findings.
The project aims to deliver a clear, evidence based report that maps existing youth services and identifies where gaps or unmet needs exist. This will support strategic planning, funding applications, and service development, ensuring young people in the area have access to the right support and opportunities.
Key project objectives:
Though the Wells and Rural LCN, there is potential to ensure further resilience of existing youth provision and serve a greater number of young residents across not only Wells itself, but all the surrounding parishes, and create a partnership of youth work within the LCN area.
This seed grant involved a scoping exercise to further explore the surrounding youth need within the proximity of Wells, and to determine how this may sit within the existing provision, or further compliment it.
This project is in partnership with YMCA Brunel Group and involved surveying and consulting the local community regarding youth provision. The Wells and Rural LCN discussions identified possible needs and barriers for youth provision in the local area such as transport.