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

Youth Forum events, trips and visits

Here are details of some recent events organised by or for Youth Forum members. 

Trip to Houses of Parliament
14 July 2008

Members of the Vale Youth Forum visited the Houses of Parliament on Monday 14th July. The group, who were accompanied by a number of Vale staff as well as several Councillors, met local MPs and had a chance to ask questions. For more information about this trip seee Alice Owen's article, which can be viewed or downloaded from the right of the page.

Big Ben

Year 9 Youth Forum
25 June 2008

The following topics were discussed:

• Types of councils and what each one does.
• Respecting differences - the two types of differences: the ones we can choose and the ones we have no control over.
• Litter - why young people may drop litter and what could be done to deter them from doing this.
• Housing - where would be the best places to build new housing.

For more information of this meeting see the "Newsletter" and "Report" which can be downloaded from the right of the page.

Youth Forum
7 March 2008

The following topics were discussed:

• Housing – an overview of the types of housing there are and what the Council's responsibility is.
• Anti-social behaviour - looking at the different types of anti-social behaviour.
• "Envirocrimes" – the Council's responsibility for dealing with environmental crimes and the various penalties that can be imposed on offenders.
• Teenage pregnancy - details of what services are available and the current "c" card scheme.

For more details see the "Feedback" and "Newsletter" documents which can be downloaded from the right of the page.

Youth Forum
7 December 2007

The following topics were discussed:

• Respecting Differences – discussing the two types of differences, the ones we choose and the ones we have no control over.
• MP Question Time – an opportunity to ask MPs Ed Vaizey and Evan Harris a number of questions.
• Community Strategy Consultation – disucssions on what living in the Vale may be like in the future.
• Climate Change Strategy – ideas on saving energy and how schools can get more involved.

MP Question Time December 2007

Youth Forum
3 October 2007

The following topics were discussed:

• Age restrictions – looking at different age limits for young people including the smoking age increase to 18.
• Making work experience worthwhile – how to improve work experience for young people in the Vale.
• Youth cabinet elections – election of young people to represent the Youth Forum on a youth cabinet to take forward projects.
• Councillor panel – a question and answer session with members of the Council, including the Leader.

Youth Development Workshop
9 July 2007

A Youth Development workshop was held for stakeholders and partners to review the Vale’s Youth Development Strategy which was adopted in November 2006. The day was facilitated by Patsy Townsend from Thames Valley Partnership. The purpose of the workshop was to look at some of the strategic aims within the strategy and partners were asked to talk about the work they were doing for young people followed by group discussions on how we can work better to provide better services for young people in the future. See Feedback from Youth Forum meeting 9 July for more details - this can be downloaded from the right of the page.

Houses of Parliament
3 July 2007   

A group of young people visited the Houses of Parliament for the annual Youth Forum visit. The day started with a tour of the Houses, followed by a Questions and Answer session with the Vale’s MPs Dr Evan Harris and Ed Vaizey, who organised the visit. They were joined by the MP for Reading Martin Salter to answer questions from young people, such as;            

• “What does a typical day consist of”? 
• “If you disagree with your party leaders, what do you do”? 
• “What are you doing to encourage young people to get into politics”? 

After lunch there was time to visit the Lords followed by the Commons when the Prime Minister Gordon Brown made his first speech. The young people really enjoyed this part of the day. For more information about this trip see Amy’s Article, a report written by Youth Forum Representative Amy Bowden, and Answers from MPs on trip to Houses of Parliament 3 July 2007 - these can both be downloaded from the right of the page.

Visit to Houses of Parliament 2007

Year 9 Youth Forum
27 June 2007

The year 9 Youth Forum took place at the Guildhall. The representatives were given an overview of what the council does, followed by a discussion on the new smoking legislation and how the Council will be enforcing it. Other topics included a mock council meeting, looking at a planning application and a discussion on what the Council should do about vandalism in the Vale.

Youth Forum
7 March 2007  

The following topics were discussed:

• Envirocrimes – looking at what these are and how the Council deal with them.
• Climate change strategy – a chance for the young people to understand and discuss the importance of having a council strategy. 
• The new smoking legislation and why the Government has introduced it.

A visit to the European Parliament in Brussels in November 2007

To request archived copies of newsletters or feedback please send a request by e-mail