A VILLAGE community has confirmed it is to channel cash into fresh initiatives to help keep youngsters off the streets and out of trouble.

The Community Works initiative in the Catterick area of North Yorkshire has already won an award for its work with Darlington College, establishing a broadband Internet link available to all at the new Learning Centre, in the High Street.

Representatives travelled to London recently to collect the Calor IT Village of the Year award, presented at a ceremony by celebrity gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

It was the same day Catterick also learned it had been granted another £17,000 by the Local Heritage Initiative to spend on a series of projects aimed at making more of its Roman, Saxon and Norman history.

However, Community Works spokeswoman and district councillor Melva Steckles has confirmed the organisation does not want to see young people left out.

Up to £1,000 will therefore be made available for a project aimed at encouraging them to have their say about how they see the village developing.

The results - which could even be compiled in the form of a video - will then be presented to the parish council.

"We want to give them a voice and perhaps this idea will act as a catalyst for something bigger," said Coun Steckles.

"We already have youth workers from the Risedale Community Education team who come to the village, there is a thriving Young Farmers Club and there is talk of developing something for young people at the Sports Pavilion," she said.

"However, it may be that some still feel that none of this is for them, so we want to know what they would like to see as well."

Coun Steckles said a long-term objective could be to develop a Youth Forum which would give young people from the village a permanent voice on the parish council.

"They need to know that people will listen to them, and a forum would give them that voice," she said.