Title

The recent completion of the Youth Investment Fund Capital programme within Blackburn with Darwen represents a real investment into the lives of the Borough's young people, enhancing local opportunity and galvanising trusted partnerships. The council's corporate missions to ensure no one is left behind and to ensure every child and young person in our borough has opportunities to fulfil their potential drives all that we do within Blackburn with Darwen.This case illustrates how a local authority can translate national policy ambition into locally owned, sustainable youth infrastructure - even when initial bids fail and funding rules shift mid-process. In 2022 the Government identified the Borough as a priority place for youth investment funding, and further to conversations with Government, the council was encouraged to submit an early application for a bid of c. £4m to become one of four Youth Investment Pilots. Sadly, whilst our bid did get through to the final round, it was not taken forward as a pilot scheme.Whilst as officers we were disappointed at this decision it did not deter us from progressing with the case making for new and improved universal youth provision proposals should the Youth Investment Fund mature from pilot to full delivery. Ultimately to be successful we realised we needed to understand exactly what our children and young people needed and what their aspirations were. The Council Young People's Services team led this new case making activity, harmonising Government policy ambition with the needs of our local communities and stakeholders. Working with our colleagues within Public Health and local third sector partners we mapped out the areas most in need of new provision. Taking into consideration the Lower Layer Super Output Areas with high deprivation rankings from within IMD 2019 and 2021, local youth populations and existing assets and infrastructure; geographic deficits within local provision soon became clear. Alongside the statistical analysis, we were also careful to listen closely to the needs of the children and young people within our community and the local organisations that work most closely with them. To understand this better we launched a Borough wide consultation to gauge local views whilst also engaging directly with stakeholders through existing partnerships and forums. As a place we are proud to deliver our public services in partnership with our local community and for the betterment of opportunity for young people the council has fostered the development of the Blackburn with Darwen's Youth Organisation Alliance - known as Young BwD.The Young BwD brings together 10 local organisations working together to deliver a wide range of services for children and young people. Engaging with the council, the alliance clearly articulated that any YIF bid would have to focus on investment in suitable buildings, training and resources.Our children and young people, through the Blackburn with Darwen Youth Forum, told us any YIF bid must provide access to clubs near to where they live, with a range of quality resources and to also access social and informal education opportunities delivered by trusted Youth workers.Happily, the aims and objectives of the local providers and local young people aligned with the council's own thinking, and this now emboldened us to be ambitious in our bidding and maximise the opportunities afforded to us. We identified gaps in North, East and West Blackburn as well as central Darwen.We now needed to identify suitable venues or land and trusted and sustainable partners. We launched an Expression of Interest (EOI) process asking for Youth Organisations to suggest venues, land and to also confirm that they had the workforce and sustainable funding sources to ensure these projects had a viable existence – if successful.From this feedback we selected four projects that would take the form of council led Place Based Bid for Capital investment, these were: • Darwen Youth Centre • Audley & Queens Park Children's Centre• Blackburn & Darwen Youth Zone (Fusebox renovation)• Shadsworth HubThe council working in partnership with local registered Charites; Blackburn Youth Zone, IMO Charity and Newground Together. We could evidence we knew our borough, our Children & Young People, our sector, our opportunities for development - what we now needed to evidence was that we knew how to build or renovate new Youth Centres!Working with our colleagues in the council's Growth & Development Team and their relevant expertise they allowed us to evidence that we could design and build our vision from initial design consultations with young people, through to the opening of brand new youth facilities. Through a shift in operational delivery policy from the Grant Funders, the Social Investment Business (SIB), we were advised shortly before Bid submission that our plans to submit a collaborative Place Bid would not be accepted, so with our partners we had to quickly pivot to prepare three Bids led by their respected organisations. With the Council taking responsibility for the Bid for Darwen Youth Centre and Audley and Queen's Park Children's Centre; Newground Together taking responsibility for the Shadsworth Hub and Blackburn & Darwen Youthzone taking responsibility for the Fusebox.Assisting each other in preparing the now three Bids, the partners successfully submitted bids for Round 2 of the Youth Investment Fund in January 2023, and in June later that year DCMS announced that all three had been successful to a total value of £8m of YIF investment in the Borough. The most announced for a single local authority area in that round of announcements. We were so delighted to secure this funding and the opportunity to respond to the need for young people to have access to youth facilities in the community where they live that an additional £1.5million was invested by the council to support the overall YIF project.Subsequently DCMS launched a number of smaller renovation type funding opportunities and we have proved successful once again – securing funding for renovations at two more of our Family Hubs/Children's Centres at Wensley Fold and Highercroft – bringing more youth opportunities to neighbourhoods and strengthening our offer to our families and the wider community.The bids support Blackburn with Darwen Council's ambitious £1bn vision for the future with a mission to create a more prosperous borough where no-one is left behind.What does this tell us about effective local leadership?Delivering the Youth Investment Fund in Blackburn with Darwen was not simply about securing capital funding. It required a deliberate shift in the council's role - from lead applicant to system steward - aligning evidence, youth voice and partner capability into a place-based delivery model resilient to changing national policy.The approach demonstrates how local authorities can maximise external investment by enabling trusted partners, absorbing complexity and maintaining strategic coherence across multiple bids, rather than competing for ownership or control.Imran Akuji is assistant director Early Years, SEND & Young People, Blackburn with Darwen BC

Title

YOUTH SERVICES

How we delivered the Youth Investment Fund in Blackburn with Darwen

By Imran Akuji | 21 April 2026

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING