MEMBERS of the Cam and Dursley Youth Forum have donned their hard hats and high visibility jackets to take a sneak preview of their new youth centre.

The project is on schedule for completion in the middle of September but work was stopped briefly for the contractors at the centre on Parsonage Street to show the excited group around the site.

The young people met with builder, Terry Stevenson, who answered questions about the development which is expected to cost around £300,000.

They were impressed with what they found as the space created inside the ground floor of the old Parsonage building will allow them to run various activities.

A campaign was launched in May to ask young people of Dursley and Cam what the new centre should be called, and this is expected to be announced shortly.

More details on the centre’s internal designs and future plans for the use of the centre are also set to be unveiled soon.

One member of the youth forum, Abi Brown, from Dursley, said it looked like “a really great, adaptable space” and Becky Sparrow said it was “exciting to see the project finally coming together.”

Emma Irvine, Dursley Tabernacle youth worker, said the builders on site had been great and had been really good with the young people on the visit.

“The development is going really well, we’re incredibly busy and the children have been involved in the process all the way along,” she said.

“We just can’t wait for it to be finished.”

It has been a long wait for the younger generation of Dursley and the surrounding area after a six-year hiatus since the town’s last youth centre was demolished to make way for Sainsbury’s supermarket on Castle Street.

The renovation of the ground floor of the Parsonage at Dursley Tabernacle Church will transform it into a multi-use centre for children aged 11 to 19.

As part of the conversion, an access ramp will be created at the front of the building and new heating and electrical fittings will be installed.

The costs are being met by Dursley Town Council and from developers’ contributions as well as £10,000 from Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl from his commissioner's fund.

Dursley Tabernacle has also invested £90,000.