Bid to reopen Bridge youth hub supported by Vale Constables

Bernie Coutu outside Frossard House with daughter Koritta and the petition (Image: Guernsey Press)

Bernie Coutu, who founded the Bridge Neighbourhood Watch scheme, has presented a petition with more than 350 signatures on it to try to restart opening the hut near the chip shop as a supervised hang-out place, which originally opened two years ago.

Vale Senior Constable John Niles said the Constables supported Ms Coutu in her attempts and said the situation regarding the hut was rather unsatisfactory.

"We backed Bernie as a douzaine when she first wanted to do this and were able to do so because the Vale Floral Group had the lease to the property and helped Mrs Coutu get it established. Unfortunately, the group subsequently disbanded and, since we weren't the leaseholders, we couldn't grant her permission to keep on using the property."

As a result, control reverted back to the States, hence Mrs Coutu's petition, which the Guernsey Press has now reported.

Confident
Mr Niles said the news came after the Vale's Douzaine most recent meeting, so members were unable to discuss it or come to any conclusions about the development.

"As Constables, however, we're confident Bernie has a lot of support generally for what she's trying to do there and we will be looking to see if there's anything we can do actively to support what is a great community initiative."

In its time, the hut, opposite the former HSBC branch on the Bridge, has been a police station outpost and an electricity sub-station, and had a clock added over the entrance in 2019.

Mrs Coutu told the Guernsey Press: "We'll wait and see now, but fingers crossed we can get it back for Liberation Day. That's our goal. It was a real community spot – something for youngsters, and everyone, to do on the Bridge. We get a load of visitors there as well. We want to do tea and cakes, and do it up for Liberation Day. Everyone loves to get involved with it."

• Previously, the hut was run from about 4pm to 7pm on Mondays and Wednesdays for a year.