A PROPOSED youth centre on land in Petersfield appears to be no nearer than when the project was first suggested last year.

Talks between the Kings Arms youth centre about building a new centre on the Petersfield Town Council owned Avenue playing field remain ‘confidential’ as the two sides try to reach agreement.

The council has agreed in principle a new centre could go on the playing field, probably linked to the pavilion already there, and the Kings Arms believes it can raise the money to fund the new build.

But the Kings Arms, currently in a short lease building in the Festival Hall car park, wants to own the proposed new centre on the Avenue; the council says as the landowner it should own any new building.

The youth centre, the only one in Petersfield, says it can’t attract funding, or broaden the services it offers young people, all the time it can only lease its current home for two years at a time.

A meeting of the Petersfield Town Development Committee heard on Friday, January 6, that the talks will continue in an effort to reach a compromise.