Minutes:
K Monaghan gave an update on the Spennymoor Youth working group which had been established to work with young people. The young people had been tasked to name their group. They opted for Spennymoor Youth Voice. Responses given by children and young people during the consultation work which had taken place throughout April and May needed to be expanded upon to highlight exactly what they were interested in seeing within Spennymoor. Young people had expressed an interest to see activities like yoga, volleyball and silent disco’s in Spennymoor along with heritage activities – within Spennymoor Gala. Another questionnaire had been developed to further drill down their requests. This was to be explored at the next Spennymoor Youth Voice meeting on 29 January 2025. It would also be rolled out at further meetings in schools and local youth centres to understand more. He showed the board the types of questions which would be asked and requested agreement from the Board to start asking these additional questions in the new year.
J Anson stated that this work was to try to break down barriers in engaging with young people and potentially encourage them to attend youth clubs and safe spaces instead of congregating in the marketplace to provide them with a safer environment to utilize.
Councillor L Maddison queried how engagement was to be carried out with young people who did not want to be engaged with.
K Monaghan responded that he had been liaising with the youth workers from the Spennymoor Youth Centre around how to promote activities to young people and it was found that attendance at the centre was down to zero. It had been suggested that the Spennymoor Youth Voice meetings could be held at the centre. He acknowledged the fact that young people could not be forced into engagement but also with the Anti-Social Officer they would try to succeed. He responded to B Graham that he already liaised with the Outreach worker at Middlestone moor as part of this work and engaged young people in the streets. The youth council had offered to meet with the Spennymoor Youth Council to get different projects up and running.
D Stone admitted it was a challenge to keep a regular tally on attendance at various youth centres. It was important to keep communications open and suggested potentially creating a Spennymoor Youth Voice App as this generation took notice of items of interest that flashed up on their phones. It would produce a multiplier effect if one young person downloaded the app that would then encourage their friends to do the same.
G Wood commented that this would start to formulate what to do next year to roll out the programme to different generations and use the capacity to galvanize and embed the work with young people.
D Stone reiterated that most young people were nice but they were given bad press. He stressed that engagement was required for direct access to take them away from the town centre and steer them away from negative activities that they could be pressured into. The app may give them that excuse and permission to do so.
A Boddy noted that this work tied in with DfE’s work to push young people to the top of the agenda.
D Stone added that this would be a real opportunity to not just work with the Spennymoor Youth Voice but the Community Partnership to understand what was happening in the area.
B Graham asked what role the Police would offer when trying to engage with young people.
J Anson responded that youth engagement was on the Police and Crime Commissioners Office’s agenda.
Revd Cannon M Tarling questioned how engagement would go beyond youth and all people who were difficult to engage and targeted. Although the development of the app would be beneficial for young people it would not be suitable for a 90 year old.
A Boddy requested an action point to be noted around lessons learnt on what young people wanted. It was realistic to ensure the right people were contacted at every level.
J Anson stressed it was important to open up conversations with people whether it was face to face or via events as if people were made to feel comfortable, they would divulge more. Although this work would drill down on different interests, it would also look at ways to accommodate how young people could access these activities and try new things if parents were on low income.
Councillor L Maddison noted that the questionnaire may lead to further questions being asked like where young people liked to go to hang out and feel comfortable. It was however important not to try to manage the responses. She advised that many young people tended to hang out at Asda for the free Wi-Fi but they caused damage. The reasons why they did this needed to be identified.
A Boddy agreed that it was important to identify the reasons why young people did what they did to try to do more than diversion tactics but create something that was sustainable. In the past there had been a youth club structure through Sure Start but funding had now dried up. This programme was an opportunity to fund the setting up of this type of framework. The data collected could help in trying to achieve this. He suggested that Graham Hall should be contacted.
J Gilroy advised that the new prospectus and technical guidance would broaden youth engagement.
Revd Cannon M Tarling questioned whether the public had the expectation that the £20million would give rise to eligible grants that could be applied for. He asked if this was the sort of structure which would be established in 5 years’ time, whether it was the government or the board who set the criteria and how it would be administered.
G Wood responded that there would be investment funds available. It was proposed to run events in the new year to raise awareness to co-produce the shaping of the funds. He did not want these expectations to be raised too soon. The funds would be passported from the government to the Council with Board agreement and DCC’s Section 151 Officer on how the money was managed. A process would be developed and a structure in place on how the project funds would be managed.
J Anson advised that the authority would consider the use of previous processes of various funding programmes, which had worked well and been administered by the council.
A Boddy agreed to the principle that the programme would be self-sustaining after the 10-year period therefore it was important to get the right people involved to make the funds go further.
Resolved:
i) That further work to be carried out with the Spennymoor
Youth Voice be agreed.
ii) That communications be drafted to update the stakeholders
involved in helping shape the Investment plan.