Young people living in the “Outer West” council wards of Calverley & Farsley, Farnley & Wortley and Pudsey have had their say on the activities they would like to enjoy – with cooking topping their wishlist, writes Keely Bannister.
In total 58 children from nine learning providers gave their input on what their priorities are for youth spending – a pot totalling £43,869, available to be spent this financial year – where they live.
They stated they wanted activities to be “challenging, fun and free” with their top eight priorities being:
- Cooking
- Scrap art
- Minecraft and coding
- Fun day
- Do you dare
- Walk on the wild side
- Harry Potter workshop
- Multi-sports
Other ideas put forward by the children included: music sessions, a trip to an aquarium or zoo, film days and a sleepover in a community venue, youth club for disabled children and first aid/life saving training.
Three quarters of the children consulted, either at the Outer West Youth Summit held at Leeds Civic Hall on October 2nd or in their school, wanted activities provided inside and outside and 63% wanted activities provided in their local area.
Asked when they would like activities provided, 40% said they would like them after school, 30% during school holidays, 23% at the weekend and 7% responded they would like activities provided in the evening.
This year’s Youth Summit had an increased engagement from last year’s event, which saw 48 children took part with primary school children marking multi-sports as their top priority and secondary school children favouring youth clubs.
Peter Carlill, Calverley & Farsley ward Councillor and Children’s and Families champion for the Outer West Community Committee, spoke to The Dispatch about the importance of the Youth Summit. He said:
“The Outer West Youth Summit is a great opportunity for children across the Calverley and Farsley, Farnley and Wortley and Pudsey Wards to attend a day’s activities in Leeds Civic Hall, learning about local democracy, meeting the Lord Mayor and having the opportunity to ask questions in the council chamber.
“As the Children and Young People’s champion for the Outer West area, the most important output for my work is an exercise where the children get to decide how we spend the money allocated to youth activities in our area, and the activities they choose, where and when they want them, really make a difference to the decisions local councillors make.
“For instance the children’s comments last year prompted the 12 week free youth club currently running in both Farsley and Farnley that gives an opportunity to try out multi-sports, scrap art and samba drumming – and we’re really looking forward to planning a new programme of activities for next year based on what these young people told us.
“We really appreciate the schools who take time out of their busy calendars to take part in the activities and I hope they’ll agree that it is a really engaging and valuable experience for the children who take part.”
A full report on the Youth Summit will be made available in due course.
Decisions by local councillors on which projects will get funding are made at Outer West Community Committee meetings which are open for the public to attend and reported on by The Dispatch.
