A MELKSHAM teenager has been elected onto the Wiltshire Assembly of Youth (WAY) and the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) following a recent election.
Lee Gunton, 16, received 3,252 votes from other young people to beat 13 other candidates from across Wiltshire. The turnout was huge with 33,998 votes being cast countywide which represents over 70% of those eligible to vote.
The victory means the Melksham Oak pupil will sit on a number of key boards as the WAY and UKYP representative, ensuring children and young people’s views and best interests are being heard. Lee will have influence on decisions affecting children, safeguarding and services delivered to young people in Wiltshire.
Lee said, “I am really pleased that the young people of Wiltshire have elected me, I would have been happy with 1,000 votes but to get over 3,000 is just amazing.
“I want the youth to be represented better in important decisions made and young people to be respected as currently the image portrayed in the media is wrong. I look forward to doing everything I can to improve the lives of young people in the area. I would also like to thank everyone that voted, it means so much to me.”
As a WAY member he will have a seat at a number of strategic boards for Wiltshire Council and have an influence on boards such as:
• Children’s Service Select Committee – scrutinising changes and developments in education, learning and development, health and well-being.
• Local Safeguarding Children’s Board – helping to assess risk and assisting in cases where children and young people are deemed to be ‘at significant risk of harm’.
• Children & Young People’s Stakeholder Partnership – ensuring that children and young people are offered only high quality of services, both delivered by Wiltshire Council and those which are commissioned to other organisations, helping improve outcomes and also promoting and supporting resilient individuals, families and communities.
As a UKYP member Lee will meet with their south-west regional peers every six to eight weeks to discuss local issues and look at trends across the region. He will also attend a nationwide event each year that brings all UKYP members together to decide what topics should be included in the ‘Make Your Mark’ national campaign.
He will attend the House of Commons to debate and vote on the national campaign in November. The 2014 national campaign was recently voted as ‘Votes at 16.’ This states ’16 and 17 year olds should be made eligible to vote in all public elections’. An additional campaign issue for England was voted in as ‘A curriculum to prepare us for life’ for the second year.
