Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

Takeover day

A group of six young people from the Vale and South Oxfordshire presented a training session for adults about Children’s Rights.  The aim of the training was to give adults a better understanding of children’s rights and hear the views of young people.  The "11 Million" Campaign is a national initiative led by the Children’s Commissioner - there are 11 million children and young people in England.  This provides children and young people an opportunity to "take over" from adults for the day and show what they can do.  14 adults including councillors, officers and staff from district councils, county council and PCT (primary care trust) attended the training to support the young people.  The training gave both adults and younger people the chance to discuss the issues around children's rights and make a pledge to support initiatives such as Takeover Day to promote children’s rights across Oxfordshire.  In Oxfordshire a number of takeovers took place across the County during the week of 2 – 6 November. For more information visit www.Bigvoiceoxfordshire.com

Feedback 11 Million Takeover Day

A group of young people, led by Chris Tolley, Member of Youth Parliament for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse, questioned transport providers at a Transport Summit held at the Oxford Bus Company as part of "Takeover Day" on Friday 7 November 2008.

Takeover Day is an annual initiative from the Children’s Commissioner for England giving children and young people the opportunity to show what they can achieve when they takeover from adults.

The summit was attended by a number of high level executives from the Oxford Bus Company, Stagecoach, Oxfordshire Rural Community Council and Oxfordshire County Council, including the Executive Member for Transport, and was chaired by Sarah Fleming, Deputy MYP. 

Takeover day transport summit

A number of issues were raised by the young people and questions included: 

• Do you think bus fares for young people are fair? And why isn’t there a more consistent approach to fares for young people?
• How do you decide on bus routes and how can young people have an influence on these?  
• Why are CCTV cameras used on buses?
• Would you consider introducing a concessionary transport card for young people?
• How can you help us to campaign for a bus route to the Kassam Stadium from Abingdon?

Chris and Sarah put forward the results from a survey they had carried out in schools in Abingdon in which nearly 700 young people had responded to questions about a proposed route to Kassam Stadium. This provides bowling, cinema and other leisure facilities in Cowley, Oxford. The survey concluded that approximately £300,000 of revenue was being lost annually as young people from Abingdon and surrounding villages are unable to get to these facilities.

Chris said: "Transport is one of the main issues we are trying to address as part of our Oxfordshire Manifesto and Sarah and I have been campaigning for improved bus routes to allow young people to participate in more leisure activities. In Abingdon, there is very little for young people to do in the evenings and weekends which is why we want a direct bus to the Kassam Stadium."

Sarah added: "The availability and high cost of transport is a major issue for young people not only in Oxfordshire but nationally and is part of the national Manifesto for the UK Youth Parliament. We have already made some progress with our campaign and have met with the County Council to discuss their transport strategy. We hope that today will help to get our message across to the people who can make things happen."

Ruth Ashwell, Area Service Manager (Youth Support Services) at Oxfordshire County Council, who helped co-ordinate the meeting, was pleased with the response from the bus companies and as a result of the summit the following proposals were agreed:

• The Managing Director of Stagecoach has offered to help broker discussions with the Kassam
• Policy makers will ensure young people's views are sought when looking at bus routes
• Transport providers and policy makers will look at the difference in concessions across the bus routes
• Transport information providers improve the information about public transport and will seek the views of young people about how best to communicate