A NEW youth shelter for the benefit of youngsters in Horrabridge was officially opened on Saturday.

The multi-agency and community-led initiative saw a 16ft shelter built for the village.

It followed local young people bringing the lack of a safe place to meet to the attention of their neighbourhood policing officers at a Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting.

Representatives of the police, the parish council and the youth service attended the opening and the council asked the neighbourhood policing team, made up of PCSO Rob Walsh, PC Dave Pickles and PCSO Mark Canvin, officially to open the shelter.

PCSO Rob Walsh said: 'What the youngsters really wanted was a safe place to meet, especially in the evenings.

'The shelter is also of use to the whole village during the day and is located so that it allows the youngsters and residents privacy, but is close enough for normal social restrictions to apply.'

The young people in the village have been involved throughout the planning and building process of the shelter. It is hoped this has encouraged them to take pride in the structure and to look after it.

PCSO Walsh said: 'It has been funded by the Community Safety Partnership and the young people have been very involved in actually building it, together with local tradespeople and, of course, the police contingent.'

He said the shelter was already proving successful, even prior to the opening.

'There has been evidence of the whole community using the shelter. I even saw an elderly couple eating their fish and chips in it.'

The officers have also helped to refurbish the village's youth club where the youngsters meet regularly.