Plans in motion for Westbury Youth Council

WORK has begun at Westbury Town Council to look into the possibility of setting up a Youth Council.

The town council will engage with schools in the area and look at other towns where youth councils have been successful, with the view to setting up one up for Westbury.

Mayor of Westbury, councillor Gordon King who put forward the initiative with deputy mayor cllr Ian Cunningham, hopes to improve engagement with young people and look into what the town provides for them.

“The establishment of a Youth Council is a long held objective of the council and I am pleased that progress towards its establishment has begun during my mayoral year,” explained cllr King.

“This is a potentially exciting project designed to improve both the facilities for youth and their participation in the decisions that make these things happen, inspired by young people for young people.

“I would encourage colleagues to take this opportunity to be bold and think about how they can invite young people to help design their council, decide on their terms of reference, their responsiveness and accountabilities and indeed their own priorities. We want a town council that takes account of the opinions of everyone who lives here irrespective of their age or any other indicator of equality.”

Cllr Aminiasi Kato who joined the council as a co-opted councillor, fully supports the Youth Council.

Cllr Kato said, “I think it is a brilliant idea and I’m looking forward to getting started on moving things forward.

“One of the reasons I joined the council was because I believe we can engage much better with our young people – they are our town’s future after all.

“Working with them, encouraging them and listening to them can only be a positive thing for our community.

“Some young people may be going down a path which isn’t good for them, so as a council, if we can interact with them and guide them in the right direction, we can give them the courage to make the right life decisions.”

Deputy mayor, cllr Ian Cunningham who drew up the motion to consider a youth council, stressed that at this stage the council has only voted to look at possibilities without any commitment to any specific action.

He said, “There was wide support from most councillors but it could turn out that there is not a desire or need for anything. It is also important to understand that any outcome will be about information gathering and engagement. You needn’t worry that your 13-year-old neighbour will be deciding the town council’s view on your planning application; legally, your councillors must always make the council’s decisions.”

Town Clerk Deborah Urch said, “A significant number of town councils across the country have some kind of Youth Council or Forum and we will be looking at how successful some of these have been.

“We are still very much interested in the views of all members of the community whatever their age and remind everyone that they can attend any of our committees (and, if you wish, speak at the public forum). These are: Full Town Council, Highways Planning & Development, Policy & Resources and Finance.

Details are available on the Town Council’s website www.westburytowncouncil.gov.uk. from the office on 01373 822232 and on the council’s noticeboards around the town. In recent year’s we have had speakers from aged 7 to 90+ all are welcome.”