Call for councils to do more to engage young people
Tom Lloyd
Monday, December 10, 2007
Local authorities should be forced to engage with young people, according to an independent group set up to examine local democracy.
The Councillors Commission wants authorities to be required to develop and implement strategies to engage meaningfully with young people.
This could involve improving consultation with the young about local decisions that affect them, or wider ranging initiatives such as creating young mayors.
The recommendation is one of 61 made by the commission, which was set up by the Communities and Local Government department to look at the incentives and barriers to serving on local councils.
In its report, Representing the future, it argues that getting young people involved in local democracy is vital they are to be encouraged to become councillors.
As well as recommending more engagement, it also calls for education on local democracy to become part of the citizenship curriculum.
The commission repeats the call made by previous inquiries, such as the Power Report, for the voting age to be lowered to 16.
It also wants the Ministry of Justice to review the candidacy age, with a view to potentially lowering this to 16, four years after the voting age change.
