In May this year I was elected with over 50 per cent of the vote to represent the people of Irwell, Rossendale at the age of 19 – the youngest councillor to ever be elected in Rossendale. Now, as member champion for younger people, my job is to be an ambassador for the young people in Rossendale, and make sure the views of the next generation are heard at council level.
With cuts being forced upon Rossendale council and hard choices to make which affect young people, we need to make sure their voices are heard.
Rossendale has some fantastic schools and we do have a high number of high schools in the borough and since May I have managed to get to most of these and meet with the heads and some of the students. Hearing their concerns and getting their views on issues really helps when in the council chamber.
Recently I helped Joe Henry, Youth MP for Rossendale, with a national campaign being run by the UK Youth Parliament. The Make Your Mark campaign was a UK-wide ballot for young people aged between 11 and 18 and gives them the chance to decide what their members of the Youth parliament should debate and vote on this year. On 23 November, the Youth MPs gathered in the House of Commons to debate and decide the most important issue chosen by young people, from public transport to marriage for all and a curriculum for life.
Back in Rossendale we managed to contact over 1,200 young people using the schools network to find out what young people thought were the most important issues to be discussing. The top three topics were:
1– An equal national minimum wage for all – (237 votes)
2 – Make public transport cheaper, better and accessible for all (199 votes)
3 – Getting ready for work (128 votes)
This information will prove invaluable. For example, I plan on going to speak to local businesses and schools seeing how they feel we as a council can work with them to help the next generation of workers gain the skills needed to be successful. Similarly, public transport is something I am very passionate about already as I use it myself due to the extortionate cost of car insurance, and within Rossendale we have shocking transport links: we are the only borough within Lancashire that does not have an active commuter train line.
Rossendale Youth Council is a very active group based within the local community and which works with other local voluntary groups. it has now got representation on Rossendale Children’s Trust Board, something which is a big step forward and are also attending the local forum meetings to put across there views.
In this sense, I urge council officers and councillors to involve young people in what they do: it is so important, and can often bring fresh and new ideas to the table when working on new policy and making the choices we all have to make on cuts.
For those people out there that say young people are just not interested – you’re wrong, when they are given the chance they will get involved. I recently visited the New Local Government Network thinktank with regard to a report it is producing called The Next Generation. Though only phase one of the report has been completed, it is clear young people want to be involved in the processes of local and national government – and it is up to local councillors and MPs to help make this happen.
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Steve Hughes is a councillor in Rossendale. He tweets @stevehughes92
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