FENLAND Council is actively looking to set up a Youth District Council to provide young people in Fenland with a voice on local issues. The Youth District Council will effectively be a Junior Cabinet, debating the same issues facing local politicians. The

FENLAND Council is actively looking to set up a Youth District Council to provide young people in Fenland with a voice on local issues.

The Youth District Council will effectively be a Junior Cabinet, debating the same issues facing local politicians.

The aim is to encourage young people to have their say on matters that affect the local community and to give them a better understanding of the processes involved in prioritising services and funding those services.

The council is consulting widely with other local authorities that have set up youth councils to get a clear understanding of how to set them up and run them. Councillor Steve Garratt, portfolio holder for Young People, is this month visiting South Northamptonshire District Council to see its youth council in action.

Letters have been sent out to all secondary schools and colleges in Fenland to canvas support for the initiative and to generate interest among pupils who may be interested in standing for the Youth District Council.

The initiative will embrace pupils in the first instance, but the council is looking at ways of widening the remit to youth clubs, travellers and people with disabilities outside the school system.

Fenland Council is keen to get young people involved in the democratic process and to give them a good grounding in what can be achieved with a strong local democracy.

Cllr Garratt said: "Young people are the future of this country and of the Fenland community and it is important that they have a say and a clear understanding of how local democracy works.

"There is no finer way of getting to grips with local issues than to get involved in the political processes that shape all our lives.

"Youth District Councils will help to enfranchise young people and, in the long term, will also encourage them to get involved in local democracy when they leave school.