Agenda and draft minutes

To welcome and introduce new members to Uttlesford Youth Council.

The Chair welcomed Members back to the Youth Council.

To receive any apologies and declarations of interest.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Altaparmakova, Cornwall-Jones, Davis, Gerard and Smith.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved subject to the following amendments:

YC33 - ‘Hybrid Fusion’ to be changed to ‘Hyperfusion’

YC33 – ‘Currently, four schools had signed the treaty’ to be changed to ‘currently 3 schools had agreed to participate as no treaty had been signed’.

YC33 – ‘Widdock’ to be changed to ‘Widuch’

To discuss the proposal for a ‘Digital Forum’ to enable the Youth Council and local young people to contribute their ideas relating to the future Garden Communities.

The Vice Chair said he had met with the Community Development Officer, the Garden Communities Project Manager and Hayley Richardson. The digital forum would now be on a website rather than an app. The Planning Department had favoured this approach in order to save money in case an app was not a success. UDC officers were currently working to conform with GDPR, and were hoping to have the website running by November.

It was agreed that the Housing Working Group and the Communications Working Group would work together to devise a list of specifications for the site. Other councillors should contact the Vice Chair if they had ideas that they wanted to incorporate into the site.

The Vice Chair said he would rather wait to see if the website met their requirements before the Youth Council tried to set up their own site with a web designer.

To consider proposed amendments to the Youth Council’s Constitution.

The Community Development Officer said a motion relating to the Youth Council had recently been passed by Full Council. The motion was as follows:

This Council resolves that it will engage with and integrate the Youth Council more closely with the Council and agrees the following principles:

1. That the Youth Council has a permanent non-voting representative at Full Council meetings in order to participate in debates.

2. That the Youth Council Members are supported by District Council Members at Youth Council meetings.

3. That District Council Members are identified to support Youth Council Members in their engagement with local schools.

4. That sufficient officer time is allocated to the Youth Council to enable it to meet its objectives.

The Council requests officers to report back to the next Council meeting on implementing these principles.

The Community Officer said now this motion had passed it was important that Members and officers work hard to make the Youth Council as vibrant as possible.

District Councillor Gerard said he thought it was a good idea to have a district councillor available for the Youth Council to interact with. The Youth Council should submit a proposal for officer resource and the Council would look at it.

The Vice Chair said he would brief the Chair of the Constitution Working Group. Councillors Fairhurst, Lemon and Light had volunteered to liaise with schools.

District Councillor Gerard said it would be a good idea for District Councillors to liaise with schools in their specific area.

District Councillor Gerard said the Youth Council should consider integrating with parish councils. He was looking into opportunities for parish councils to send standing invitations to Youth Council members in their local areas. Felsted Parish Council already had a young councillor who could participate in the meeting but did not have voting rights. The Youth Council could give a presentation alongside himself to the next Local Councils’ Liaison Forum.

                        RESOLVED to:

1)    Thank Full Council for passing the motion as above.

2)    Ask that the Community Development Officer develop proposals for a greater allocation of officer resources to the Youth Council.

3)    Write to District Councillors asking that they liaise between schools and the Youth Council.

To receive an update from the Housing Working Group.

The Vice Chair said there had were still places for young people to fill in the community forums for the garden communities near Great Chesterford and Easton Park.

It was suggested that Members could see if any friends were willing to be a part of the forum.

The Community Officer said it was relatively easy to organise assemblies in schools at which information about the forums could be presented. However it was problematic persuading schools to interrupt the curriculum.

District Councillor Gerard suggested that Councillor Light as Portfolio Holder for Education would be a good liaison between schools and the Youth Council.

To receive any updates relating to the Youth Council’s working groups.

Environment Working Group

Councillor Widuch said the working group was in the process of drafting an environment treaty, which was intended to be signed by schools which would commit them to working towards environmental protection. There would need to be a meeting with representatives of the schools to have their input. It would be good to present the finished document to the District Council for its support.

District Councillor Gerard noted that the District Council had set up a Climate Change Working Group to which the Youth Council would be invited.

Councillor F Wolter said form time at schools incorporated PSHE time, which could be used to educate students about the aspects of climate change that the treaty intended to focus on.

Councillor Widuch said a meeting between the Communications Working Group and the Environment Working Group on an article needed to be rescheduled.

Mental Health Working Group

The Community Officer suggested the working group meet with Fiona Gardiner to establish the budget for Crucial Crew’s performance.

Councillor F Wolter said she had a timeline in place in order to meet the deadline of Crucial Crew’s July performance.

Police Working Group

Councillor Balchin said he had emailed Essex Police and they had replied. However, he was unsure how far the Youth Council would be able to get.

District Councillor Gerard advised that the Youth Council contact Councillor Day who was the Topic Lead for the Police.

Councillors Brown, Halls, Parry and Widuch volunteered to sit on this working group.

Library Working Group

Councillor F Wolter said there would be a Library Forum meeting on 25 September.

To receive updates on public speaking training and the Library visit.

The Community Officer gave a report on his discussion with Saffron Walden Library. He said the library was keen to hold discussions with the Youth Council. He also suggested the Youth Council could meet with Martyn Everett, who knew a great deal about libraries.

The Community Officer gave a report on public speaking training. Many of the courses available were prohibitively expensive. He said it might be an idea to find someone in the local area with experience of public speaking who would be willing to deliver a session.

The Vice Chair suggested discussing the issue with Councillor Fairhurst when he returned.

To set the date of the next Youth Council meeting.

It was agreed the next meeting would take place on 12 November 2019 at 5.30pm.

The meeting closed at 7.05.