Youth Summit brings in lots of new ideas
DOZENS of teenagers attended this year’s Youth Summit to try and improve the council.
Organised by Macclesfield Town Council the event offered youngsters to chance to see how their town is run.
They had the opportunity to raise their concerns and also offer their ideas about how the council could be improved.
This was the second year the event has been organised and according to the council it was a hit with the children.
A spokesperson for Macclesfield Town Council said: “The Youth Summit was a great success and it is a true inspiration to be able to spend time with such engaged and engaging young people.
“The students and representatives of youth organisations that came along generated some great ideas and opportunities that they identified as key issues for the town and I expect we will be looking to find ways of delivering the changes they hope to see.”
Last year, 30 young people met to share ideas, which resulted in Macclesfield Pride, which is to be launched this year.
Due to be held in July, Macclesfield Pride will be organised by Utopia, which supports local LGBT young people aged 15-19.
A group from Macclesfield Academy also spoke at last year’s summit and have since introduced free Youth Street Sports for seven to 16 year olds.
After saying there were not enough activities for children outside school hours, the free sessions run at Jasmine Park MUGA, Banbury Close playing fields and Macclesfield Academy Astroturf every week.
The council says the free sessions, run by qualified coaches, have been a success and will go on throughout the year.
The spokesperson said: “Last year the summit raised issues relating to evening activities, dog fouling and the delivery of an LGBT Pride event for Macclesfield and I’m pleased to say that we have progressed all of these areas.
“We now have free street sports three nights a week around the town; installation of new dog poo bag dispensers; and we are working with community groups in the town to deliver Macclesfield’s first Pride event this year.
“The 2018 Youth Summit identified a number of new areas for us to focus on, such as lighting and maintenance of Middlewood Way, mental health awareness and support, and the promotion of the good things about Macclesfield.”