We have had a couple of meetings in the last few months and we wanted to let you know some of the topics we have been discussing and working on. We have had a few guest speakers attend our meetings to find out what we think about specific topics.

Firstly, during a joint meeting with the Cabinet we discussed the Corporate Plan which sets out the Council’s goals for the next couple of years. We talked about the different services the Council provides to local residents and took part in a Kahoot! quiz to identify our prioirities for the future. We talked about what is important for young people in the Vale and what we think the Council should focus on, things like the enviornment and more opportunities for young people.

The Council’s Equality Officer came to one of our meetings to discuss the Strategic Equality Plan. The plan explains how the Council will support local residents and protected groups. The plan is called “Working together for a fairier future”. We were able to talk to the Equality Officer about some of the equality issues young people face, e.g. bullying in schools, living in poverty, getting the grades we want and making the right choices for our future.

Some other people we’ve met include the Youth Service’s Senior Manager to discuss the future of the Youth Cabinet to ensure there are lots of opportunities for more young people to get involved. And also we met with the Public Awareness Officer to learn more about the electoral register and how you can register to vote. This is something we are interested in and two of our members were able to sign up during the session.

In support of Penarth Youth Action’s and Llantwit Youth Council’s plastic recycling project we have also designed and bought some eco-friendly water bottles that we can use to stop the use of plastic and continue to work towards protecting the enviornment.

Lastly, some consultations we have taken part in to ensure the views of young people in Vale are feeding into different levels of decision making include: the refurbishing of the Barry Library Youth Area; Access to full curriculum RE & RS; Vale Anti-Bullying Policy; Vale Budget Consultation; Young Peoples Survey – Children and Poverty; Vale Corporate Plan; Vale Strategic Equality Plan; Vale Arts Consultation; and Welsh Youth Parliament Mental Health Survey.