HUNDREDS of Congleton teenagers are due to get their own town centre base to meet in the evening.

Some 200 youngsters signed a petition, initiated by Congleton Youth Forum, calling for better leisure facilities for young people.

Their pleas could soon be answered by the opening of the youth information shop in Congleton high street in the evenings.

The info shop is open between 2pm and 5pm from Monday to Friday, but could open at night thanks to the support of borough youth development officer Ruth Reeves.

Ruth is recommending the council make a £500 grant to the info shop, which would pay for a youth worker for two three-hour sessions per week for three months.

''The youth forum has asked that the info shop opens at weekends and evenings,'' she said.

''The shop's management committee agrees in principle, but does not have enough funds for the extra hours.

''The info shop is an excellent venue, being central, neutral territory and already identified as a centre of youth activity.

''The shop is staffed by a project worker, and one option is to open one evening instead of one afternoon.

''However merely reshuffling the hours is not the answer. The shop is always busy, and the demand is for extra hours not different ones.''

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