The Youth Zone, formerly Stratford Circus, has been the subject of an acrimonious row since 2021 when the council evicted the Stratford Circus Arts Trust

By Aidan White

The interior of Stratford Youth Zone — Stratford Youth Zone. Photo via Facebook

The future of Newham’s flagship youth zone in Stratford has been secured thanks to a multi-million pound ten-year deal between Newham Council and the University of East London.

UEL will take over the Youth Zone, formerly known as Stratford Circus, in September with a contract worth £733,000 annually over the next decade.

The Council says the deal will deliver a long-term programme of creative and performing arts based activities as well as highlighting career opportunities in the creative and cultural sector and opening pathways to training, skills acquisitions and jobs.

The future of the Stratford Circus site has been the subject of an acrimonious row since 2021 when the council evicted the Stratford Circus Arts Trust, a charity which had used the building to provide arts and creative activities for ten years.

The Council put the building in the hands of its own Youth Empowerment Service while it explored options for the future.

The Stratford site has been a key part of the council’s youth zone expansion strategy, all of which aims to provide more cultural and creative opportunities for young people in the Borough.

The council has opened other youth zones in Forest Gate, Little Ilford, Beckton, and the Shipman zone, which is currently being delivered from Trinity Community Centre in East Ham, while a new Youth Zone is built in Prince Regent Lane, Plaistow.

The costs of the new Stratford Youth Zone have risen sharply in the past few years and the financial contribution required from the Council has more than doubled from £230k a year to £503k per annum.

The council cabinet meeting was told this was because of “higher operating costs” and an “ongoing period of high inflation reflective of the cost of living crisis that people and the council face”. The total needed to run Stratford Youth Zone is around £700,000 a year of which the council will pay £500,000 to the UEL which plans to pay the remaining costs from student fees and cash reserves.

But the extra costs have confirmed earlier concerns expressed by former Stratford Circus leaders who protested at the council takeover in 2021. Lucy Atkinson, former Chief Executive of the Stratford Arts Trust told Newham Voices: “It’s really disappointing that a charity who had been running the building so successfully for so long were evicted in 2021 for this to be the ultimate result.

“During the legal process in 2020 we were clear to the Borough what the realistic costs were to run the building as an arts centre but it did not feel like this was taken seriously. Their motivation at the time was to have us removed, regardless of what gaps this left.

“The council presumed switching from our model to an arts led youth centre would be simple. As we can see, this did not turn out to be the case.

“Stratford Circus was not funded by the local authority, so as a result of evicting us the council have ended up with a huge financial liability, along with the loss of a much loved local cultural asset and the million-pound funding it received from Arts Council England.”

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz says the youth zones and the flagship Stratford plan offer “a programme of inclusive, immersive and exciting activities available to all young people aged ten and above. Uniquely, we offer a programme of universal youth service provision accessible for young people who are neuro-divergent or have specific needs, including those with disabilities.”

She said that UEL would be “working in collaborative partnership with the Youth Empowerment Service team to deliver an exciting programme of provision that will be second to none”.

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