‘Give young people a voice’ say councillors

COUNCILLORS have stressed the importance of listening to the young people of Melksham following letters written by  children from Forest and Sandridge School to Melksham Town Council.

Cllr Hayley Spencer visited the school to speak to the children about Melksham Town Council and its role in the community, as well as how the council spends its money. The children then wrote letters expressing their requests for changes in the town, as well as thanking the council for their ‘lovely town’.

Popular ideas included a makeover for the skate park. One letter said, “We would like you to improve the skate park by making it bigger. Also give the whole thing a  new coat of paint so that it is shinier.

“We really think that the skate park should have some bins inside of it. Also it needs new wood on the ramp because the old wood is damaged. This would make it look more attractive for people who would like to use it.”

The environmental aspect of the town was also a key issue for the children. One wrote, “My favourite place is the park and it makes me really sad to see litter in the river and pool. You could send someone once a week to make sure there is no litter.”

Another wrote, “Maybe more trees or nature areas and clean alleyways to walk down.”

Three children expressed their concerns about the roads, “We are writing to you to ask you if you could improve the roads around Melksham. We have noticed that there are many potholes on the road which isn’t very helpful for people on bikes as they might fall off.”

Cllr Hayley Spencer said, “It was really lovely to hear all the ideas that the children have for the town, but also to hear about how much they love their town.

“Some of the issues they raised we will definitely look into. In particular, the request for more flowers in the town. We are in talks with South West in Bloom about increasing the floral displays in the town.

“We’re going to be visiting other schools to find out more about what Melksham’s young people think about the town. They are the future, so it’s so important to listen to them.”

Cllr Jon Hubbard is passionate about listening to the young people of Melksham. He said, “We must not ignore the young people in our town because their views and opinions are just as important as anyone else’s.

“I’m very keen to explore all the avenues available to us including Young Melksham and Melksham Area Board so we can make the changes that are needed. We can’t promise that changes will  happen overnight but wherever possible, we will do everything we can. There were a  significant number of points raised by the children that we should be aspiring to.

“One of the big challenges that we are facing today is the engagement of young people in democracy because no one ever listens to their generation. We should be encouraging them to participate and not sit on the sidelines but get involved, because that’s when change occurs.

“We have a responsibly to our young people to show them that we will listen to them and their voices will be heard.”