A FORMER youth pastor is close to realising his dream of creating a new community centre, cafe and skatepark for Wimborne.

Andy Putt, who previously worked for St John’s Church, is hoping to transform an empty warehouse into a space for youngsters from the town.

The unique plans were born out of his work with local young people for Christian project Streetlight.

Andy said: “We started the initiative around three years ago, and we’d go out in the evening to just chat to kids in Wimborne and make sure they had someone to talk to if they needed to.

“There are some facilities for young people in the town, but nothing quite like this, and it just got me thinking about what I’d do if I could.

“As long as 10 years ago, I had the idea of an indoor skatepark in a community centre, so it has been a long road.”

After Andy left his job to pursue the plans full-time, he met the owners of Shears Brothers Transport Ltd, who wanted to rent out an unused warehouse on the Stone Lane Industrial Estate.

He said: “In the last six months, the idea has really developed, and we are getting to the stage where things are starting to happen.

“We can rent this space, which is fantastic, but the first thing that needs to happen is to get planning permission for a change of use for the site.

“Once that’s done, we can start applying for grants and funding.”

He added: “Teaching people about the love of Christ is my world and my passion.

“But the way that people engage with the church has changed such a lot in the last few years.

“They don’t sit in rows and pews any more – they go to Costa and chill out over coffee with their friends.

“That is the sort of environment I want to create.”

For more information, or if you can help, email Andy@streetlightproject.org.uk