'I used to be a bit naughty': Portsmouth defied funding cuts and saved its youth centres - here's what happened

Two decades ago, the city's council chose to prioritise playgrounds and youth clubs to help its poorer families - and the benefits are plain to see? Read more: Last youth centre in one of England's most deprived coastal areas faces closureThree schoolboys in black sweatshirts dart from a wooden fort across a sandpit, weaving and jostling past prams, scooters and bystanders, after a pink football. A pony-tailed girl launches herself on to a moving roundabout, while a young man wrestles a half-naked toddler into a pair of training pants before she scampers off back to the sandpit in the autumn sunshine.This is Buckland adventure playground in Portsmouth, surrounded by trees and a mix of two-storey flats, terrace houses and tower blocks, mostly social housing built to replace the city's demolished slums.Buckland adventure playground has now had three generations of children enjoying its facilities Continue reading...