Huyton Action Walk 26/06/13

On 26th June, Jules, Matty and Rhianna set out on an Action Walk around the Knowsley area of Huyton. Historically within Lancashire, Huyton is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with Roby Urban District. Huyton shares borders with Dovecot, Knotty Ash, Belle Vale, Prescot and Whiston.

Knowsley Young Advisors can be commissioned to carry out Action Walks around any area or hotspot. Their insight to 'see it as a young person' will give an honest and beneficial report which will help with improvements and redevelopment. They are able to provide feedback in a format of your choice.  

Action Walks can help commissioners to establish things such as:

• The points around the area which are to an excellent standard
• The more negative aspects which could use improvement
• How these negative aspects could be improved
• Young Advisor recommendations
• What else the area could benefit from and what is missing
• Reasons why an area may be a hotspot for crime or anti-social behaviour
• Any other aspects you wish to be focused on

Knowsley Young Advisors carried out an action walk around Huyton to highlight the positives and negatives within the community and what changes could be made in order to make the community a better place. Knowsley Young Advisors began the action walk at OurPlace Youth Facility and finished the Action Walk at the same location.

Below is just a taster of an Action Walk report:

OurPlace

 The OurPlace facility is a fantastic building that opens its doors to young people ages 11-19, and up to the age of 25 with additional needs. Its facilities include a dance studio, media suite, music studio, pool tables, table tennis, football pitches and even a state of the art skate park and BMX track. 

The facility offers activities for young people to get involved in such as arts and crafts, Wii & XBOX sessions, cooking classes and even hair and beauty. There are also opportunities for young people to get involved in awards schemes such as The Mayor’s Award and Duke of Edinburgh.

Although Huyton is home to a bus station, very few buses that leave the station pass by the facility, and the ones that do are not very frequent. The youth facility is open to all young people of the stated age, but the borough is so big, it is hard to get from one part to the other.

HASCL

We then progressed to Seel Road, where Huyton Arts and Sports Centre for Learning is situated. 

HASCL is one of Knowsley’s seven Centres for Learning. The CFL’s were built as part of the Building schools for the future programme. Some Knowsley young people were involved in the design of the buildings.
The CFL is at the heart of the community, situated a five minute walk from the town centre.

HASCL is a state of the art building designed purposely to encourage creative ways of learning. CFL’s also open their doors to the community, as they have a gym and state of the art football pitches for residents to use, and also allow “home bases” to be booked out for events and meetings. This ensures that the whole community benefit from using this facility.

Huyton Village

A short walk away from the CFL is Huyton Village. Huyton Village is the shopping area situated in the centre of the community and residents of Huyton benefit from the local amenities they have to offer.

The centre mainly consists of banks, clothes stores, charity shops, discount stores, and food stores. The centre also has a walk in centre, and a one stop shop which all residents can access if and when needed. There are 4 fashion stores and numerous charity shops so residents can buy clothes locally, and do not have to travel far.
The centre is within walking distance of both a train station and a bus station, making it easy for residents and non residents to travel here.
It was noted that within the relatively small centre there were numerous food stores including McDonald's, Domino's Pizza, a chip shop, four pastry shops (including a discount bakery store) and 2 frozen food stores. However, there is only one fresh fruit and vegetable store in the centre. The lack of healthy food stores encourages unhealthy eating and obesity.

Of course, the report above is just a taster of what we can offer!
For more information or to enquire about us carrying out an Action Walk for you, please email us at knowsleyyoungadvisors@gmail.com.

Until next time!