YOUNG people in Dorchester have been given a new place to meet and ‘chill out’ with friends.

The Poundbury Youth Shelter on the Great Field has been built to provide a facility for youths in a move designed to help prevent anti-social behaviour.

The shelter was built by the Prince’s Foundation with youngsters from Poundbury choosing their favourite design.

Maurice Allen, chairman of the Poundbury Residents’ Association, said: “This is what the youngsters want so you can’t do better than that.”

He said the new shelter was part of plans that included a wall to play football against and a cycle track on the Great Field. He said: “They get up to mischief when they get bored so it’s good to provide facilities for them.

“It’s only a small thing and we really would like a youth centre when the community centre opens but that will be a few years away, I think.”

The Duchy of Cornwall office in Poundbury supported the project by supplying materials and building the foundations, while developers also provided funding.

Lynette Green, which managed the project for the Prince’s Foundation, said local youngsters were consulted throughout its construction during a residential summer school project held for their apprentices. She said: “It is satisfying to give the children what they like.

“They came by on a daily basis to have an input.”

Opening the new shelter, town crier Alistair Chisholm declared the shelter somewhere for youngsters ‘to meet and chill out’.

David Barrett, deputy mayor of Dorchester Town Council, said Dorchester had 4,000 young people aged over 11.

He added: “We have an excellent youth club which takes on 400 people a week so 3,600 have no facility of that sort.

“We have to do a lot more and we still need a meeting point in the western end of the town.”