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Youth of today have their say

16/ 4/2008

TWO Glossop teenagers will be representing High Peak on the Derbyshire Youth Council over the next two years.

Adam Fearns and Laura Jane Roberts are among the 16 members — two from each of the eight county districts —who will now feed their views to Derbyshire County Council on what youngsters want from its services over the next two years. This year the youth council will have a say on how £732,000 is to be spent.

Skate parks, drama clubs and multi-use games areas are the kind of facilities which have benefited in the past.

Adam, of The Paddock, Hadfield said: "I wanted to stand to make this area better by improving the parks and by having places for young people to go to instead of being on the streets."

Adam and Laura Jane, who lives in Padfield, are both aged 15 and attend Glossopdale Community College. They will serve two years on the youth council which meets 10 times a year, with the first meeting taking place next month.

A record number of votes — 20,818 — were cast in this year’s ‘Big Vote’, which attracted 72 candidates. The names of the winning candidates were announced at a special election event at the county hall in Matlock.

Formerly called the youth forum, the youth council was set up in 2000 to give youngsters a greater voice in Derbyshire’s democratic process.

Councillor Bob Janes, county council cabinet member for cultural services, said: "This year’s Big Vote has been the biggest yet and I’m delighted with the amount of interest that has been shown by young people.

"The youth council is really important because it ensures that young people can raise the issues that matter to them with the politicians who make the decisions and I’m looking forward to hearing from all the newly elected representatives."