A MAJOR new project to provide water sports activities to youngsters across the town will be launched at Arrow Valley Lake next month.

Charitable trust Youth Afloat has formed a pioneering partnership with Redditch Council to offer the service.

The organisation will give youngsters aged between eight and 18 the chance to train to become instructors in a variety of water sports, including canoeing and sailing.

Youngsters will be asked for a small donation for each session but it will not be enforced, enabling underprivileged children to take part.

Chief executive of Youth Afloat, Alex Cockshott, said: "It is going to be a facility which does not exclude anyone.

"It is something to keep youngsters off the streets and they can channel their energy away from things they should not be doing."

He added: "We will also take children on trips and broaden their horizons.

"There must be a lot of young people in Redditch thinking, what is out there for me? And this facility at Arrow Valley Lake will give them the chance to travel.

"That is what we want to do with Youth Afloat and Arrow Valley Lake is a fantastic site."

Councillor Brandon Clayton said: "I think Arrow Valley Lake has been underutilised and I think this is the best thing for youngsters of the town and I fully support it."

l A £20,000 project to take sport out into deprived Redditch areas will be launched in the next few months.

Smallwood, Abbeydale, Church Hill and Batchley will become the first places in Redditch to take part in a pilot scheme supported by Sport England.

Development manager for Sport England, Simon Hall, said a person would go out into the community and carry out an audit to determine what provisions there are for sport and what facilities are needed.

He said: "Redditch will be the first place in Worcestershire to have a person who will work alongside other agencies."

He added: "We will look at all the playing pitches in the town to make sure they meet the needs of the community."

Mr Hall said he hoped better sports facilities would be up and running by 2002.