 | Young people prepare for Local Democracy Month events |
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Young people across Telford & Wrekin are looking forward to a series of events to encourage them to engage in politics as the borough's Local Democracy Month gets under way.
The campaign follows on from last year's highly successful Local Democracy Week - with the decision taken to spread this year's events across a whole month and eventually through the year.
It all starts with a Democracy Conference Day on Thursday (OCT 8) at Wellington's Whitehouse Hotel which will be attended by 80 Year Nine pupils - 10 each from eight different schools.
The event will include a range of different workshops, information sessions on the UK Youth Parliament and speeches by Councillor Stephen Burrell, cabinet member for children and young people, and Julia Almond, corporate director for children's services.
The second major event of the month is a Young People's Question Time event October 16 at Telford & Wrekin Council's civic offices.
This event will be hosted by Radio Shropshire breakfast show presenter Eric Smith and will focus on five major issues affecting young people highlighted by the responses to a recent survey.
Schools and groups will each be asked to submit questions based on the different issues and the young audience will be able to use electronic voting pads to give answers.
The five issues include careers for young people, cheaper public transport, more space to play and meet, more activities for young people and less smoking and drug taking among young people.
Panellists will include council leader Councillor Andrew Eade, Councillor Burrell, Miss Almond, Councillor Keith Austin and UKYP deputy member Hollie Higgins.
The final major event is being badged as Telford's answer to The Apprentice, which tasks 10 teams of four young people and two decision making adults with creating a "fantasy" political party to run the borough and develop policies on major issues like education, health, leisure, crime and transport.
They will also be expected to develop a manifesto, design a name, logo, slogan and publicity poster and design promotional t-shirts.
Each team will be marked on their performance by judges and will then deliver a party political presentation with the audience voting for the best.
Councillor Stephen Burrell, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "The forthcoming month will provide a wonderful opportunity for the borough's young to become actively involved in decision making and discussions about the borough's future.
"The events should be a lot of fun but there is a serious underlying theme about actively involving young people in the political process, helping them to increase their understanding of how decisions are made and giving them a greater appreciation of democracy.
"It will be an informative learning process for panellists involved in the three events and will help everyone look at the issues facing Telford and Wrekin with fresh eyes."
All the events are funded by the council's Democratic Services department and delivered by the Active Involvement Service.
6 October 2009
 
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