Laying good foundations
YOUNG people are being given the chance to learn skills such as bricklaying, landscape gardening and block paving thanks to a £500,000 scheme.
Designed to improve the entrance into Knutton, the scheme will involve up to eight trainees aged between 16 and 18 years old.
Aspire Housing, Newcastle Borough Council and Renew North Staffordshire with employ the young people through PM Training to create low maintenance gardens, boundary walls, railings and off-road parking in Knutton Lane, Moran Road and Arthur Street.
Darren Green, senior regeneration manager at Aspire Housing, said: "This scheme has been welcomed with open arms by residents and is an example of partnership working at its best."
Comments
by Mel, Bucknall
Saturday, February 06 2010, 12:22PM
“I'm sick of seeing these feeble schemes trumpeted as something new and wonderful. Unemployed people have been exploited in 'training' schemes doing landscaping and block paving since Margaret Thatcher came to power, without a break, and how many have actually got permanent jobs from it? And how many companies in this line of work have gone out of business because they couldn't compete with state-subsidised schemes like this? I'd be impressed if someone came up with training programs that gave people skills they can actually get a real job with.”