Research from Social Investment Business reveals that youth centres funded by the £300M Youth Investment Fund will enable over 1 in 7 young people in England to access a new or renovated youth centre within a 35-minute walk of where they live.

The Youth Investment Fund aimed to provide more equal access to high-quality youth centres in England in areas where youth need was high, and provision was low. It is the largest investment in the youth estate in England for more than half a century to invest in young people by building or renovating youth services in the most deprived areas of the country.

When the fund opened in 2022, youth centres could apply for funding if they met the criteria and were in eligible wards. When the Fund completes, there will be over 270 new or refurbished youth centres and it will have enabled more young people to have a safe place to go, to make friends, and to have new opportunities that spark their ambition. The UK Government’s Youth Investment Fund is delivered by Social Investment Business in partnership with Key Fund, National Youth Agency and Resonance.

Researchers at Social Investment Business carried out a Geospatial Analysis of youth accessibility to youth centres funded through the Youth Investment Fund. The research team already knew that around 70% of young people accessing the new facilities were within walking distance, but they wanted a deeper understanding of the fund’s impact. They also examined the socio-economic characteristics, particularly household deprivation and anti-social behaviour of the areas within walking distance of a newly funded youth centre. This research only covers youth centres in England funded by the Youth Investment Fund.

The research was carried out using Diagonal’s Geospatial Analysis Engine that uses Open Street Map data (OSM), an open-source, in-memory engine built for analysing large datasets of the built environment. The team also used in-house data collected from delivering the Youth Investment Fund, Ward data (2021) and Age Data and Disability Age Data from the UK Census (2021). The research team then mapped Youth Investment Fund youth centres onto this data by matching them to a building or creating a point feature where they are located.

Social Investment Business research findings:

Walking Distance Findings

• More than 1 in 7 young people (846,000 young people) across England will live within 35 minutes walking distance of a new youth facility.
• There will be a total of 1.25 million youth access possibilities across Youth Investment Fund youth centres. This figure includes young people being able to access multiple sites within a radius of 35 minutes’ walking distance.
• The highest numbers of young people in walking distance of a Youth Investment Fund youth centre are: North East England 29%, North West 26%, Yorkshire and Humberside 19%, and East Midlands 18%.

Anti-Social Behaviour Findings

• 174,000 young people live within walking distance of a youth centre in areas of the country with the most anti-social behaviour.
• 52% of all wards served by these facilities are in the top 30% of areas with the highest rates of anti-social behaviour.
• Wards within walking distance of YIF-funded facilities tend to be in areas with higher rates of anti-social behaviour.
• Youth Investment Fund sites can help address UK Government targets to provide youth facilities in areas of high deprivation and crime.

The Youth Investment Fund has invested in young people by building or renovating youth services in the most deprived areas of the country, with 70% in IMD 1-3 areas. Many of the new youth centres are in parts of the country with little or no existing youth centre. Before Shotton Colliery Parish Council received a Youth Investment Fund grant of £1.2M, there was no existing youth facility in Shotton Colliery, County Durham. Having a brand-new dedicated youth space will give young people new opportunities to make friends and gain valuable skills for life and work. Similarly, in a deprived inner-city area of Lawrence Hill and Barton Hill in Bristol, young people only had access to outreach youth work but no dedicated youth space. A grant of £796,647.00 to the Wellspring Settlement has created a new and safe youth space that young people can identify with.

Chris Davy Research & Design Manager for Social Investment Business said:

“It’s often difficult to truly map the impact of local provision and services, with common approaches relying on simple population metrics or a bird’s-eye view of a map.”

“By using a bespoke methodology that incorporates walking routes and the walking speed of young people, we’ve been able to build a much more accurate and powerful picture of the real-world impact of the Youth Investment Fund.”

“Mapping accessibility alongside socio-economic factors allows us to see not just where youth centres are located, but who they could potentially reach. This helps us answer the critical question of whether these facilities are in the right places with the data showing that they are. These centres are in areas with high deprivation and elevated levels of anti-social behaviour, where they can make the biggest difference”

"The research findings have enabled the Youth Investment Fund team to measure the impact of the fund, and in which areas young people can access the sites. The data will be invaluable to improve future impact measurement and targeted funding in areas of high deprivation and crime. Social Investment Business are continuing their research to map more youth centres across the country and the associated factors influencing youth provision."

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NOTES TO THE EDITOR:

Photos & Infographics

Infographics and photos for the story available here

About the Geospatial Analysis of Youth Accessibility to Youth Investment Fund (YIF) Sites and Associated Economic Factors

Project goals

• To create a more representative methodology for the number of young people that can walk to their local YIF funded youth centre.
• To more accurately examine the socio-economic characteristics, particularly household deprivation and anti-social behaviour (ASB) of the areas in walking distance of a YIF funded youth centre.

Methodology

• The research was done using Diagonal’s geospatial analysis engine that uses Open Street Map data (OSM).
• OSM is an open dataset that relies on a large community to keep it updated.

Data sources

• Wards (2021)
• Age Data & Disability Age Data: UK Census (2021 Census)
• Open Street Map (OSM)
• Youth Centres: Social Investment Business (2025)

Mapping Youth Investment Fund youth centre sites

• The geospatial data contains information on:
• Traversable paths via walking
• Buildings (as identified in OSM)
• Points of Interest (as tagged in OSM)
• Wards (as areas)
• We mapped YIF funded youth centres onto this data by matching them to a building or creating a point feature where they are located.
• If no building, we searched within 50m of an existing building and manually selected the closest match.
• Connected all youth centres to the nearest traversable path – where over 100m, a manual check was necessary to draw the traversable path.

Mapping distances walked

• Assumption of walking speed of 1.25m/s.
• We selected this speed to be below the transport planning standard of 1.45 m/s, which reflects the walking pace of an able-bodied male aged 25–35.
• We used this assumption to see which buildings were within walking distance.

Centroid Problem and solution

• A methodology was created to decide if a ward should be included as ‘within walking distance’ of a YIF funded youth centre.
• Initially the buildings at the centroid of each ward were used. If the centroid was within 25 minutes walking, then it was included.
• However, wards are various shapes, and we found some centroids were not even in the wards or far away from road networks.

The solution:

• We tested from 1 to 50 buildings reached in a ward and the percentage of the buildings in a ward reached as potential solutions.
• Due to the varied building density in rural and urban areas, being able to walk to at least 2 buildings in a ward was set as the benchmark.
• A “security margin” of 10 minutes was added to the total. If 2 buildings were reached in 25 minutes, we assumed a larger number would likely be reached within 35 minutes.
• Combined with the slower walking pace, we used this as a reasonable estimate.

Results

Walking Distance Findings

• More than 1 in 7 young people (846k) across England live within 35 minutes walking distance of a YIF facility.
• There are a total of 1.25 million youth access possibilities across YIF facilities. This figure includes young people able to access multiple sites within a radius of 35 minutes’ walking distance.

Anti-Social Behaviour and Deprivation

• Wards within walking distance of YIF-funded facilities tend to be in areas with higher rates of anti-social behaviour.
• 52% of all wards served by these facilities are located in the top 30% of areas with the highest rates of anti-social behaviour.
• YIF sites can help address UK Government targets to provide youth facilities in areas of high deprivation and crime.

About the Youth Investment Fund 

The Youth Investment Fund forms part of the Government’s ‘National Youth Guarantee’ to ensure every young person across England will have access to regular out of school activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. The Youth Investment Fund, of over £300 million, is funded by the UK Government and delivered by Social Investment Business in partnership with National Youth Agency, Resonance, and the Key Fund.

The Youth Investment Fund has been developed to create, expand, and improve local youth facilities and their services in the out of school youth sector, to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved mental and physical wellbeing, and skills for life and work.

The Youth Investment Fund will fund the building or renovation of 300 youth services and will increase the number of regular positive activities undertaken by young people in the targeted areas by 45,000 per year, by 2026/27. 

To learn more, visit www.youthinvestmentfund.org.uk