A TROUBLED youth centre in Ringwood is advertising for a new manager to instil the council's 'vision' for the facility.

Ringwood Town Council is looking to recruit someone to oversee the operation at The Place at Carvers Recreation Ground.

A meeting of the working party dedicated to looking at the running of the facility met last month.

Members agreed the priority for the council was appointing a manager for youth centre.

Due to a lack of use through the winter months, councillors agreed to close the café from the end of November.

Town clerk, Chris Wilkins, reportedly told the working party that he felt the original vision for The Place of a building where young people could just chill out and have access to a café had been lost.

Councillors agreed that this remained their aim for the hub and the new manager should work to achieve this.

Cllr Jeremy Heron, who is a member of the working party, said the council were keen to get The Place up and running and delivering for young people in Ringwood.

"We hope a change in management structure will help to deliver what we always planned for the facility.

"There have been a number of teething issues and a learning curb for the council to an extent.

"All projects like this tend to be unique. We just haven't got the mix quite right, but hopefully with a new facility manager in place, with a relatively blank canvas the centre can push on."

Since opening in February 2016, the £540,000 facility has had its issues.

In late October of last year The Place was closed temporarily by the council after "staffing problems" which saw the manager at the time dismissed.

Despite an appeal for more staff to meet the demand at the centre earlier this year, as reported in the Daily Echo last month, concerns have been raised over suspected drug taking at the recreation ground.

Additionally, youth sessions at the centre had to be cancelled due to poor behaviour from a handful of attendees, which on one occasion included young people getting onto the roof of the building.

Councillors on the working party gave permission for the town clerk to look into preventative measures, including anti-climb paint and guttering.