What is a Youth Council and why do we have one?
A Youth Council is a group of young people engaged in community decision-making. Watch the video above on a quick run-through of the Youth Council by local councillors Joy and Georgia.
The Town Council’s Vision for the Youth Council
Witney Town Council supports and empowers young people in Witney to be more involved in making decisions about issues and services that affect them in their futures. A Witney Youth Council gives children and young people a ‘collective voice’ that is listened to and helps influence actions by decision makers.
What can I do in a Youth Council?
The objectives for the Youth Council are:
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- To develop projects which represent young people
- Create spaces for young people
- Create learning opportunities for young people
Previous Youth Councils have hosted bake sales, taken part in remembrance day, attended events, and even hosted their own nerf gun stall at Witney Carnival in order to raise funds for their projects and events.
The possibilities are as far as you can think of ideas, within the rules and limitations of the council.
Youth Council Social Media
The Youth Council has it’s own Instagram account which will be managed by the members. You can post related information about what makes you passionate:
- Encouraging young people to vote
- Awareness for petitions, events, pride, etc.
- Keeping people updated on what you’re doing
How can I contact the Youth Council?
If you are planning an event, have ideas to be discussed at a meeting or want to collaborate on a fundraiser, you can contact the Youth Council through their email address: youthcouncil@witney-tc.gov.uk.
Enquiries through social media messages will not be responded to.
What are the rules?
There are some things you need to do as part of the Youth Council so that things go as smoothly as possible.
There will be a maximum of 20 Youth Council members (If we receive more applications than there are places the Youth Council mentors will form a selection panel to settle on 20 members and any others will go on a reserve list.
There is a minimum of four meetings a year. These allow you to talk about any issues, what you plan to do, and how you plan to do it. This can then get sent to Full Council (A meeting with council staff and councillors) to receive feedback.
There will need to be a Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and a Media Officer within the Youth Council Group.
The Chair steers the meetings, ensures they follow what needs to be talked about, and makes sure everyone who wants to talk gets to talk at the appropriate time.
The Secretary writes down the minutes – what gets discussed about and what decisions are made.
These roles are both very important to make sure you cover everything that needs to be talked about and that its all recorded for other people to see and you don’t forget what decisions you made.
In addition, the Treasurer keeps a tab on Youth Council finances and the Media Officer is in charge of social media!
Any more questions?
The friendly staff at Witney Town Council are more than happy to answer any questions that you may have. Remember – there is no such thing as a silly question!
Feel free to drop us an email at info@witney-tc.gov.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How do I Join?
You will need to fill out our simple Youth Council Application Form
and if you are under 16 years of age you will need to get it signed by a parent or guardian.
Here are all the documents you might want to refer to.
Witney Youth Council Privacy Notice
Witney Youth Council Terms of Reference
