Greenwich’s young people will be able to represent their borough in the London Youth Games after all, after the council reversed its decision to stop funding a team.
The Greenwich Wire reported a week ago that the council had pulled out following cutbacks to its sports development team.
Young people in Greenwich would have been the only ones in London unable to represent their borough, as the other 31 councils and the City of London have continued to fund their teams.
A change of heart was announced at Wednesday night’s council meeting after a question from Lewis Hurst, a Labour councillor for Kidbrooke Village.
Adel Khaireh, the cabinet member for culture, equalities and leisure, said the cut to the sports development team two years ago, which was meant to save £200,000, included cash that was allocated for London Youth Games entries.
“We decided to cut that funding, but we did not manage to find out exactly what was all tied in with it,” he said.
“We’ve looked into this again and also looked at the best way forward for it, going through our new physical activity and sports strategy that’s coming forward in December – we’re going to fit it in there.”
He added: “There needs to be a better way of catching that data regarding young people in competition. At the moment, there’s a big gap and we want to make sure that young people from all ethnicities and backgrounds are involved in these kind of competitions. So we have put it in to continue. We’re working at pace.
“My team is meeting London Youth Games to get back into the tournament as soon as possible. At the same time, we want to start monitoring this properly and see how we can make sure that all young people from across the borough, genders, faith, disabilities, are all involved and at elite competition.”
Khaireh thanked Hurst and West Thamesmead councillor Nathan Baffour-Awuah for raising the issue with him.
A petition against the cut had reached 600 signatures by the time of the meeting.
Greenwich’s change of heart comes too late for some young people, such as cross-country hopefuls, although some attending schools outside the borough have been able to switch their allegiances.
Competitions began last weekend in the lead-up to next year’s finals, which will be held at the Redbridge Sports Centre in Barkingside, east London.
Steven Cummins, the Greenwich cross-country team manager, told The Greenwich Wire: “This is brilliant news for the young people of Greenwich and it is positive that local councillors have listened to, and are acting on, the concerns of large numbers of Greenwich residents.
“Though sadly too late for Cross Country, we are glad that Councillor Khaireh has agreed to do this at pace. I am pleased that Greenwich children will able to proudly represent their Borough at the London Youth Games in the current session.”
London Youth Games has been contacted for comment.
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