THE PANDEMIC has heightened concerns about the county’s lack of dedicated youth services.

Provision has scaled back over the years leaving a gap in access to support for young people.

One person who is more passionate about solving the issue than ever is Wiltshire Youth for Christ team leader Steve Dewar.

Wiltshire Times: Steve Dewar determined to bring more social connection to young people in WiltshireSteve Dewar determined to bring more social connection to young people in Wiltshire

Having seen the scale of the problem, he has felt the need to take matters into his own hands and has set up a pop-up youth work van to give more opportunity for young people to engage in activities across the county.

He said: “Cuts to youth services in rural areas came into effect years ago, but this pandemic has just made things even worse.”

While some people may think that young people are better off in Wiltshire with regular access to fresh air, rather than being cooped up in cities, their needs are more complicated than that.

Steve explained: “There are issues like social isolation, they spend more time online. In some ways that can be good, you can be connected through social media and things like that. But practically, their social engagement with each other has kind of gone in the wrong direction.

“Because of the algorithms that you have online, young people tend to only connect with those who think the same way. And rather than getting that diversity in the community, they’re not getting to engage and converse with people that are different to them - and that’s a big part of growing up.”

He became even more worried after a National Youth Agency report showed that there is little or no coordinated provision in many rural areas to tackle inequalities and put young people at the heart of Covid-recovery.

One of the main issues youths from remote places face is a feeling of having very little support; something that Steve feels could be solved with more youth groups and a place for young people to take part in something other than school life or homework.

Steve said: “At the moment those few workers who are in place have their hands tied behind their backs with minimal resources and staffing and yet we see the need continuing to grow.”

‘Cuts to youth services in rural areas came into effect years ago, but this pandemic has just made things even worse’