A youth club in Kesgrave is set to be relaunched in October after a string of anti-social behaviour incidents – including a fire – in February forced bosses to pull the plug.

The Thursday sessions for those aged 13 and above were held at the Millennium Jubilee Hall in Millennium Way.

In February Kesgrave Town Council reported that anti-social behaviour incidents were “occurring frequently” and came to a head on February 2 when a fire was deliberately started in the toilets.

The behaviour left the town council with no choice but to suspend those sessions, with police also having to attend.

The under-13 club continued as normal.

Now, the town council has put out a tender for organisations interested in running relaunched sessions for those in school years 10-13 to come forward for funding.

A town council spokeswoman said: “Following a review and restructure of youth provision, Kesgrave Town Council is looking to resource its youth services on Thursday evenings under a pilot scheme, where it is asking interested parties with the correct skills and qualities to tender.

“Concerned about the lack of provision for young people in this age group outside of school hours, the town council would like to secure a suitably experienced and appropriate organisation to run the youth club for the remainder of this financial year, because of the time restraints on its small part-time office staff, who are not currently in a position to manage this facility.”

The pilot will run from October to March with a £5,000 pot available for the winning bid to run the sessions.

However, if the club proves safe and popular, it is hoped they will continue with fresh funding beyond March, subject to a review of the pilot. The Millennium Jubilee Hall has once again been allocated for the club.

The town council spokeswoman added: “The emphasis at the beginning and first phase of this project would be the communicate and engage with young people primarily in school years 10-13; encouraging attendance at a youth club/provision and ascertaining the young people’s aspirations for provision/activity in Kesgrave in the future.”

Police have also confirmed that it will be monitoring the situation when the club re-opens.

Mike Sarbutts, partnership funded PCSO, said: “We will be putting in measures to monitor activity around the Kesgrave Youth Club to deter and disrupt any antisocial behaviour once it reopens.

“Although we don’t want to stop people enjoying themselves, we will take robust action to prevent this enjoyment lapsing into repeat incidents of antisocial behaviour.

“We also work closely with the town council and other agencies and continually review our problem solving solutions to address community concerns and provide support that will reduce incidents of antisocial behaviour.”

Interested organisations can email the town council here.