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Youth unrepresentative? Out of touch? Think again
• WE read your report into the operations of the youth council with great interest (Teen politicians slammed, October 22).
Some bits of it seemed very familiar. Representatives from schools?
They were in the original plans, but ignored by Town Hall chiefs. The youth action teams, designed to engage the wider community, were not, as the report claims, the brainchild of the British Youth Council, the report’s authors.
We came up with them – two years ago – but Camden’s civil servants refused to implement them.
When we were first elected, the youth council was a perfect reflection of Camden’s young society. Rich, poor, black, white, independent school, state school, we were all there. But there then ensued a total failure of the adult council to support those who needed support.
Where were the promised residential weekends?
The professional training? Members’ handbooks?
Local area youth forums?
It had all seemed too good to be true... and it was.
Predictably, those who fell off the wagon in the absence of this backing were those who weren’t confident public-speakers, hadn’t gone to private schools and hadn’t been in debating societies for years.
So yes, by the end of it, the youth council wasn’t as representative as it could have been. To blame young councillors for this is at best mindbogglingly naïve and at worst a cheap political game of passing the buck in the run-up to local elections.
That said, we still achieved a great deal. The so-called “throwing books at schools” were not merely that. We handed down the democratic process to ground level and gave every young person in Camden schools the chance personally to choose a new book to restock our dilapidated libraries so they reflected the literature young people really wanted. We championed our generation’s cause when we saw the controversial mosquito siren banned throughout the borough. Our young people’s referendum – on the idea mooted by Boris Johnson to raise the drinking age – attracted 2,000 respondents. Does that sound like “unrepresentative” or “out of touch”?
We would pose these questions to the Liberal Democrat administration.
Why should we expect you to make changes for the better in light of this report, when you refused to do so when we suggested changes ourselves?
What assurances do you give to Camden young people that worthwhile projects, such as the popular and inspiring Camden Calling magazine, will be continued while you plan to dramatically slash the youth council’s operational budget? And can you seriously stand by the credibility of this report, when its authors spoke to only four of the 36 elected youth councillors, but 20 civil servants?
The BYC managed only a 10 per cent turnout at its last annual general meeting.
Out of touch? Unrepresentative? We leave you to decide.
Of course we always welcome feedback and criticism. We’re in this to make it better. Some parts of this report we embrace with open arms. Revolving meeting venues around the borough? Great idea. We hope that the Liberal Democrat administration will take all these concerns seriously and truly throw their weight behind the new youth council, empowering them to give our generation the best representation Camden can offer.
AXEL J LANDIN
ACAI DUANG-AROP
NICK SEAFORD
ELEANOR BLEY GRIFFITHS
OZ DAHAB
NOAH POPPER
Former Youth Councillors
London Borough of Camden
Democracy!
• YOUR article (Teen politicians slammed, October 22) further indicates the shambles that is the Liberal Democrat policy and practice of Camden youth work.
On its own admission its funding system was not fit for purpose and resulted in the stop/go (more stop than go) practice of giving money to one organisation one year and not the next irrespective of the need in the area.
Despite promises to the contrary nothing has changed. The most recent example of Maiden Lane community centre resulted in the Lib Dems denying all responsibility for the funding cut and organising a petition to get it restored!
The findings of the British Youth Council on the operation of the Lib Dems’ flagship Camden Youth Council are very questionable. Apparently only four members of the 36 members were interviewed as against 20 council officers. Similarly, elections for a new youth council have now been put off twice. Maybe the youth council did make decisions which the council officers and councillors did not like but that is what democracy is about.
No doubt the elections when they take place will result in young people more compliant to the wishes of councillors and council officers. The treatment of youth council members is neither “liberal” nor “democratic” and will have totally alienated the trust of Camden’s young people.
Sean Birch
Elizabeth Mews, NW3
• I COULD hardly believe what I was reading (Teen politicians slammed, October 22).
Typical Liberal Democrats slating the youth council when things don’t go to plan.
These youngsters have put in hours of their time for which they should be applauded. You have catalogued over that time the resistance their efforts have met from council officers.
Give them some credit.
At least they’ve achieved something worth mentioning.
DR STEVE HC MIRRORS
Belsize Park Gardens, NW3
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