Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Youth Councillors H Briffa, A Gerard and J Reid.

The Democratic Services Officer said the Youth Council had not achieved quorum and therefore no resolutions could be passed at the meeting.

The minutes of the meetings held on 8 May and 4 July were agreed as true and correct records, although formal approval was deferred until the next quorate meeting.

The Youth Council discussed the possibility of speaking at the next Full Council meeting on Tuesday, 9 October.

Councillor Birkbeck said this was a good opportunity to raise the profile of the Youth Council and a number of councillors should attend as representatives.

There was agreement that the Chairman and Councillor Birkbeck should represent the Youth Council. They would provide a general update on the ongoing work of the Youth Council, with particular regard paid to the upcoming elections.

Councillor Birkbeck said the aspiration was to hold the Youth Council elections in October. They would take place across a number of schools in the District, although much work needed to be done to coordinate the vote.

The Community Development Officer said a new school had opened in Uttlesford, Stansted Airport College, and its students could potentially join the Youth Council.

Members discussed the difficulty of communicating with schools and having the opportunity to promote the Youth Council to students e.g. presenting to an assembly. The Youth Councillors agreed that the assistance of District Councillors in arranging these events would be helpful.

The Chairman said holding successful elections across the District was the immediate objective of the Youth Council. Members agreed that there was an urgent need for new councillors and the preference was to have elected, rather than co-opted, representatives on the Youth Council. To ensure that the widest catchment of young people could be involved, elections should be held in schools.  

Councillor McHugh proposed inviting teachers and head teachers from local schools to a meeting whereby a plan could be formed to hold elections across the District. Members agreed this was a good idea.

At the request of the Chairman, the District Councillors present agreed to assist in arranging the meeting with schools.

The meeting would take place at the Council Offices in Saffron Walden on 2 October at 5.30pm. The Community Development Officer and Members agreed to make the necessary arrangements with schools as follows:

·         Felsted School – Community Development Officer to contact Councillors Felton and Mills.

·         Forest Hall, Stansted – Community Development Officer to contact Councillor Sell and Mrs White.

·         Helena Romanes School, Great Dunmow – Councillor Davey to speak to the Head Teacher.

·         Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport – District Councillor Fairhurst to contact Mr Culpin.

·         SWCHS, Saffron Walden – Community Development Officer to contact Mrs Smith.

·         Stansted Airport College - Community Development Officer to make enquiries.

District Councillor Lemon said there were young people who lived in his ward but went to school outside of Uttlesford, in Bishop’s Stortford, for example. He said they too would be welcome to participate in the Youth Council and he would contact those concerned.

Councillor Birkbeck said he would provide ‘election packs’ at the meeting, which contained the necessary information and materials to hold and promote the Youth Council elections.

The Community Development Officer said he had spoken to the Assistant Director – Legal Services who would advise the Youth Council on any changes they wished to make to the Constitution. A meeting would be arranged in the near future.

The Community Development Officer said the Housing seminar had been scheduled for 1 December and would be held in the Council Chamber. The event would be sponsored by the Youth Council but all young people would be welcomed and encouraged to attend. The exact format of the day had yet to be decided but there was agreement that it would be beneficial if there was a strong interactive element to proceedings, as well as educational content on the issues surrounding housing and planning. There would also have to be a mechanism for ascertaining how young people felt about key planning issues, such as feedback forms or voting systems. The Youth Council would then use such information to provide feedback to Full Council.

The Community Development Officer said he would arrange a meeting with senior planning officers to discuss the details and itinerary of the event.

Members were informed of an invitation from the Chief Executive for two Youth Councillors to accompany the Council on a visit to an existing garden town near Cambridge. The Community Development Officer said the Council would like to hear the views of the Youth Council in regard to the design of the proposed Garden Communities.

Housing Working Group

Due to the upcoming housing seminar, Members agreed to hold a meeting of the Housing Working Group to discuss arrangements for the day. The meeting was set for the 25 September at 4.15pm and would be held in the Council Offices, Saffron Walden.

Communications Working Group

Councillors recognised that much work was required on promoting the Youth Council and attracting new members. There was a particular need to advertise and promote the upcoming elections.

Councillor Birkbeck said he and the Chairman had spoken to a journalist at the Saffron Walden Reporter newspaper and the Youth Council would have a press release on elections and the scheduled Housing seminar.

Social media was discussed and the various platforms that could be utilised. The Chairman said the membership of the Communications Working Group would be

renewed following the upcoming elections and promoting the Youth Council through social and print media would be its primary aim. 

The date of the next meeting had been scheduled for the 7 November 2018. The Community Development Officer said he had two requests from Essex Police regarding the Youth Council. The first request was to carry out a consultation with young people regarding their general attitudes towards the police; the second was to seek views on the proposed formation of the Police Cadets in Uttlesford.

The Youth Council agreed that this would be a worthwhile exercise and invited a representative from Essex Police to attend the next meeting.

Councillor Davey said it would be good if there was a slot for presentations at every meeting, to inform and educate the Youth Council on a variety of issues.

Councillor Reid said she could reach out to Kemi Badenoch, the local MP, and invite her to attend a meeting.

District Councillor Fairhurst said he could invite a member of Toastmasters, an international group that promotes public speaking, to the next meeting.

Members agreed that this would be beneficial for the Youth Council and welcomed the opportunity to hear from a variety of speakers. The Community Development Officer said meetings could begin at 5.30pm in future to allow 30 minutes of guest speaking before the formal meeting would commence at 6.00pm.

Councillor Reid asked if any progress had been made in regard to the proposed Youth Council certificate.

The Community Development Officer said he would make enquiries with the printing company who were potentially producing election posters for the Youth Council.

The Democratic Services Officer said he would speak to the Executive Support team who sourced the ceremonial gifts that were received by the Chairman of Full Council at the end of their term. He would ascertain whether a certificate could be produced and, if so, what it would look like.

The meeting ended at 7.35pm.