VOLUNTEERS are needed to get Marlborough’s youth centre up and running once again. It closed in August following Wiltshire Council cuts.

Since news of its closure emerged, Marlborough town councillor Lisa Farrell has worked to see if there is any way that the Marlborough Devel- opment Centre in St Margaret’s Mead could be revived.

Wiltshire Council has agreed that the centre can be rented out twice a week with a view to adding more nights in the future.

Youth facilities in the town and surrounding villages are now the responsibility of Marlborough Area Board and will be overseen by community youth officer Jan Bowra alongside whom Coun Farrell has been working.

The project is still in its early stages but Coun Farrell will be looking to fundraise to cover the cost of the building hire and is also looking for residents to help run the facility.

She said: “We need all the support we can get. This really needs to be a community project that everyone in Marlborough gets involved in, even if it’s just helping out for an hour a week.

“It makes me really sad that the youth centre has closed because I used to go there as a kid and at the moment young people have nowhere to go.”

Coun Farrell, with the help of Marlborough Youth Council which she helped to set up, will be producing leaflets and questionnaires to hand out to young people so that they can have a say on what goes on at the centre.

She said: “We all need to get behind this. The young people are getting fed up of the town and I don’t blame them because I feel we’ve let them down.

“I want to find out what it is that young people want. I’d also like to see it used by younger kids, because I’ve spoken to mums who have said their youngsters have nowhere to go in the town either.”

To get involved email lfarrell@marlboroughcollege.org