Agenda and draft minutes

Welcome to our new forum members joining us today;

Zanzi (Duston School), Saoirse (Northampton College), Florence (Sponne school), Mudi (NIA), Marian (NSG), Maame (NSG), Sarah (Northampton Academy), Ramla (NSG).

Also attending; Bella (Guilsborough Academy), Skye (Northampton Academy), Kyla (NIA) and Lissy (UON – young leader).

Officers/Adults: Aimee Luck and Jamie Wells (WNC) and Morcea Walker.

Apologies from: Henry (Chenderit), Haroon (NSB), Lola (NSG), Tracy (NSG), Kamron (BC), Ella (NIA) and Mihir (NSB).

Absent without apologies: Claudine ( NSG) and Leo (Wootton Park).

Everyone received a copy of the MOU – this basically says how often we meet and the expectations of forum members.

Members took part in an icebreaker game called “People Bingo”. This game required members to go around and ask questions about each other, related to the points on their bingo card. This encouraged the new members to introduce themselves to each other and get to know everyone.

Current members go through projects and events from 2023

Existing members talked about their experiences with the youth forum, including events and projects they have been part of. We also discussed some key events and projects that are ongoing and sought the views of all the new members.

All young people took/sent a selfie by email – this will be put on a their new Youth Forum ID badge.

Anyone who was absent can submit their photo to Forums.NBC@westnorthants.gov.uk with the subject: “Youth Forum + [your name]”

Members viewed the 4 new forum logo options (developed last year) and voted on their preference, making suggestions for any minor changes.

Action: Aimee to get final logo created by design team and include on new ID badges.

All of the fun facts handed in on arrival were then read out and the group tried to guess whose was who. Everyone got to have a laugh at Jamie who once had to be rescued from a paddleboard.

We were briefly joined by two cabinet members, Cllr David Smith and Cllr Fiona Baker.
David is the portfolio holder for community safety and regulatory services and Fiona has children, families, education, and skills in her portfolio.

Both spoke to the young people about their roles and interests and encouraged all to ask questions and put views to them as decision makers during their time as forum members.

Training:

After splitting into 2 groups, members were asked to discuss:

1. Who are they you representing ?
Group agreed they were representing a wide range of young people from their schools, community, family and any groups they are part of.

2. How they are going to represent them?
They thought of practical ideas such as google forms and using form group time to share information/get feedback and importantly attending the forum meetings.

3. What support do they need to do this?
Having the agenda 2 weeks before the meeting is needed, it should also include timings. Sharing the notes and actions as soon after the meeting as possible to allow time to get things done.

We then discussed the role of a chair. This is a role that will rotate so that everyone gets to have a go at being chair or vice chair.

Chair: to follow the agenda, introduce guests, check actions have been completed and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak and share their thoughts.

Vice: to support the chair and make a note of key actions or tasks and who is responsible.

This helped remind forum members of their role and helped staff understand what support they need to feel empowered and able.

Esme Cushing

Esme and James joined us from the Transport Planning department to discuss the new Local Transport Plan.

Slides they presented sent out with these minutes if you missed it on the day.

Members looked over a number of ‘problems’ and voted on what they felt was the top 6 priorities to be dealt with in the plan. Views were also shared and questions asked about things like transport from rural areas, impact on the environment and the ‘net zero’ commitment.

Esme and James will return in the Summer with the draft plan for members to review and give comments on.

The forum were shown a video about ‘Make Your Mark’ which you can watch via the link.

Make Your Mark is a national vote for young people aged 11-18. The vote tells Members of Youth Parliament what topics are a priority for young people in the UK and what they should focus campaigns on for the next two years.

It is our ambition as West Northants Youth Forum to elect our own Members of Youth Parliament in the future and this is our first step in getting actively involved.

The forum discussed the topics and read the examples and then everyone voted for their preferred topic.

The outcome of our vote was:

1.    Education & Learning (5 votes)

2.    Rights, equalities & democracy (3 votes)

3.    International Relations (2 votes)

4.    Crime and Safety, and Youth Work and Young peoples services (tied with 1 vote each)

Action for all young people in the forum:

1.    Take the examples and tally sheet back to school and ask to hold a vote in your forum group. Send the completed form back to aimee.luck@westnorthants.gov.uk by 8 March!

2.    Share the link to vote online instead and encourage young people in your schools/communities to make their mark this year!

Tally form and examples to be sent out with these notes.

The forum members were asked to split into two groups and discuss what issues young people face nationally and locally.

Each group wrote their thoughts on flipchart and then agreed on 3 priority issues which they presented to the other group. Once all 6 priority issues were on the board, each member was given six sticky dots to vote on which priorities they want to focus on as a forum. The bold topics were voted top two priorities for this year.

1.    Discrimination

2.    (Serious) Crime

3.    Behavioural support

4.    Access to healthy & affordable food and school supplies

5.    Place and Transport (affordable and accessible youth spaces)

6.    Jobs and Opportunities

The group reviewed the action plan and discussed key events the forum has been involved in in the past. The group wanted to stay involved with Heritage Open Day tours, Youth Summit, UK Parliament Week and Holocaust Memorial Day.

We also discussed the opportunity for the forum to help develop workshops for Young Citizens day with a focus on their priority topics. Everyone was interested in doing this.

Action Plan to be updated by Aimee/Jamie and brought to next meeting.

Wednesday 13 March, 4.30 – 6.30pm

Meeting will take place at Guildhall.

If travel is an issue an online link is available – please let us know in advance if you need to join virtually.

Please confirm your attendance in the WhatsApp group when asked or send apologies to Aimee/Jamie in advance of the meeting.