Search is on for the politicians of the future

Voting begins this week for the new Camden Youth Council which will provide young representatives from across the Borough the opportunity to feed into local decision-making processes. The Youth Council will also work with the five area forums for young pe

Voting begins this week for the new Camden Youth Council which will provide young representatives from across the Borough the opportunity to feed into local decision-making processes. The Youth Council will also work with the five area forums for young people (age 13-19 years) that have been set up across the Borough.

It is a pity that the Council's current Lib-dem/Tory administration have rushed through this initiative with little publicity and little attempt to involve young people who reside in Camden but do not attend Camden schools. Large numbers of our young people attend schools out of Borough and without having found a means to send ballot papers to them they are unlikely to be represented this year. We are pressing for improvements in subsequent years.

Leaving this aside, the new Youth Council is an important and welcome initiative. It has the potential to help in dealing with the sense of disenfranchisement and alienation that so many of our young people seem to have. For this new Council to be properly representative we need as many people as possible to turn out to vote. We urge all young people in to use their vote over the 2 week period which begins this week. Even those who live in Camden but do not attend schools in Camden can vote and should contact the Youth and Connexions service at the Council for their ballot paper.

Cllr Maya de Souza

Vice-Chair, Camden Green Party