New Youth Hub set for Fenland

New Youth Hub set for Fenland

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority will establish a Fenland Youth Hub in Wisbech to ensure more young people can access the support, skills and opportunities they need to succeed. 

It will build on the successful Youth Hub established by the Combined Authority and partners at Peterborough United Football Club last year, bringing together skills, training, and wider support services to help young people progress into education, training or employment. It will provide a relaxed, welcoming ‘one-stop-shop’ centre which will also provide outreach to Fenland towns and villages, helping young people get the support they need to find opportunities to succeed in life. 

Fenland has one of the worst educational and skills outcomes in the whole of England according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation.  

The £140,000 funding comes from the Combined Authority’s Youth Guarantee Trailblazer funding. The Government’s announcement to launch more Youth Hubs in Cambridgeshire under the wider Youth Guarantee on June 15 did not include Fenland. But the Combined Authority acknowledges the need for better youth support in this part of Cambridgeshire. In 2025, 3.9% of 16-17-year-olds living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were identified as being not in education, employment or training (NEET), which was above the national average of 3.4%. 

As well as the evidence of deprivation, low social mobility and barriers to opportunity, the approach of setting up a Youth Hub has been developed in response to extensive engagement with young people through Fenland Youth Voice.  

The Combined Authority intends to ‘seed fund’ the hub to get it set up and trialled. Subject to a  procurement process, those operating the hub would then be required to set out how they would run the hub sustainably into the future, including through partnerships, external funding and joining up with existing local services.  

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow said: “This hub will help give young people at risk of being left behind a chance to have a successful future. It’s clear that action is needed on this in Fenland, and bringing this facility to the heart of the district will help make sure they have access to all of the opportunities, advice and support available to them.”