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Youth Council members Nicholas Seaford, Lazeez Raimi, Axel Landin and Lorenzo Brewer |
Youth revolt wins say on cash
Teenage politicians will determine how £100,000 budget should be spent
MEMBERS of Camden’s new Youth Council have revealed they were on the brink of resigning until Town Hall officials agreed to let them decide how a £100,000 budget should be spent.
Youth councillors went into crisis talks last Wednesday night amid warnings that they would walk out on the flagship project – they had even drafted a resignation letter.
A walkout would have hugely embarrassed Camden councillors who have celebrated the Youth Council as a way of giving teenagers a voice.
Senior Town Hall officials, under instruction from Liberal Democrat deputy leader Councillor Janet Grauberg, agreed to let the teenage politicians spend the money as they planned.
Youth Council members have called the decision a “U-turn” and hailed a “victory for young people’s democracy”.
Cash will now be spent on refurbishing youth clubs and education projects.
The stand-off followed a sparky meeting last month when Ronke Martins-Taylor, head of Camden Council’s youth and connexions department, told a full Youth Council meeting that their budget plans were a “waste of money”.
She added: “It was never the intention that the Youth Council should spend its budget on education and teaching.”
Lorenzo Brewer, the Youth Council’s 12-year-old minister for education, said the council had underestimated the teenage politicians – and that the youngsters knew best.
“We’re not here to be showcased or be the council’s guinea pigs,” he said. “A lot of people put youth councils down. They don’t believe that teenagers should have spending powers. But we know – because we are young people – the issues that affect us. We can make a tangible difference.”
Some in the Youth Council believe they have highlighted gaps in the council’s policy, for example with their proposal to hire an out-of-hours reading teacher in schools.
Co-leader Lazeez Raimi said: “We thought up a pilot scheme independently, which was dismissed by officers, yet today the government announced a reading scheme almost identical to our idea.”
The Youth Council dispute was picked up by media law lecturer Marcel Berlins, who in the Guardian newspaper last week, quoting the New Journal, said its decisions – and the £100,000 budget – should be left to adults.
Other proposals the Youth Council wants to implement by the end of the year include buying school books and introducing recycling schemes in schools and youth clubs.
Ms Martins-Taylor described last Wednesday’s meeting as successful. She said the agreed budget would “avoid doubling up spend on areas where the council already dedicates substantial funding”.
She added: “We agreed the funding will go towards further work involved in setting up the Youth Council and the youth area forums and for targeted projects developed by the young councillors themselves.
“Another new and positive development is that young councillors will now be linked to an adult councillor, who will provide advice and guidance on a range of issues, including finance,” she said. |
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