IN RESPONSE to Community Councillor Mr A Childs’ letter (March 8) re: Blackwood Youth Club.

As a county borough councillor for Blackwood I would like to make the following points: It was Mr Childs’ beloved Plaid who, in order to sell off the site, attempted to evict the young people from their temporary location at Pentwyn Road.

Had I not intervened, the young people would have been placed in a totally unsuitable building.

It also came my to my attention that the new club at Blackwood Comprehensive had hit the buffers, with no date for completion; this was only resolved after I complained.

Having spoken to officers, I can confirm that the £300,000 used to build the new club came from an insurance payout of £600,000 following the arson attack on the old clubhouse and not from over all budgets, as claimed by Mr Childs.

As a former youth and community worker in Caerphilly I know the value of the work carried out by our youth services.

As for Mr Childs’ childish attack on Mr Gardiner, I would like to point out that Leon is well aware of the needs of young people as he spent over 20 years as the caretaker at Blackwood Comprehensive and has recently helped myself and the children of Blackwood Junior School plant hundreds of trees and shrubs at the field at Plas Mawr.

Nigel Dix,
Montclaire Avenue,
Blackwood