Wolverhampton YMCA bids to keep vital facility

YMCA Wolverhampton is looking to keep a portable building on site at the 22-bedroom Badger Court, off Cannock Road, to enable it to continue providing education and training for people living in the supported housing scheme.

Charity bosses said the structure has been in place since 2002 and is essential for helping the vulnerable residents get skills to go on to education or training.

They added they had no other alternative space to provide the services and any plans for a permanent solution had been scuppered due to funding cuts.

Their application has been submitted to City of Wolverhampton Council planning officers for consideration.

In a supporting statement, YMCA said: “The Portakabin is used almost daily as a training room and meeting room both for residents and external training providers.

“The project is currently working in partnership with a number of third party training providers in addition to chaplaincy support to enable young people to gain the necessary skills to enter into education, training and/or volunteering.

“In addition, the Portakabin also enables us to provide the facilities to external organisations to deliver programmes and training to the wider community.

“The layout of Badger Court is very much residential in nature with only one communal area which is not appropriate to use for training or meeting purposes as this is part of the young person’s home and, in any

event, would not lend itself to be a suitable location for training delivery or meetings.

“Operating as a Supported Housing Project, it is a requirement of our funding to provide support and training to all of our residents and by far the most effective way to achieve this is by on-site delivery.

“Aside from the costs, it simply would not be practicable to hold training sessions off-site.

“Any plans which the organisation may have had to replace the Portakabin with something more permanent have been put on hold due to the significant cuts to our core funding.”