Airborne-style project on drawing board

The Prince’s Trust for Scotland and the social care charity Turning Point are said to be working together to provide an effective alternative to lengthy prison sentences for serious and persistent young offenders.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said yesterday: "We are aware that the Prince’s Trust and Turning Point are trying to put together a project that deals with the type of offenders for whom the Airborne initiative was designed."

Details of the plans and what form they would take have not yet been revealed.

However, the proposed project has been developed to use the skills of staff who built up expertise over the ten years of Airborne’s existence.

It would, however, need government approval and committed backing to get off the ground.

Combining outdoor physical activities with counselling sessions, the Airborne initiative was set up to handle persistent young offenders who did not respond to conventional punishment set by the courts.

It was the subject of a controversial BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary series, Chancers, which showed graphic scenes of young offenders taking drugs and indulging in drinking sessions at the centre at Braidwood House near Carluke, Lanarkshire.

The programme caused a political stir and brought forward critics who questioned the usefulness of the whole Airborne project.

In February, the Scottish Executive withdrew 600,000 of funding, forcing Airborne to close.

The deputy justice minister, Hugh Henry, said the Executive had decided the initiative "did not represent value for money".

The decision to close Airborne was widely questioned, with pressure being put on the Executive to find a replacement for it.

Ministers are understood to be receptive to the new proposal, which also has the backing of the criminal justice charity Apex.

No-one from the Prince’s Trust for Scotland was available for comment last night.