Marlborough's councillors have asked if the youth council can provide feedback on submissions to next year's annual plan that directly impact young people.
Marlborough's youth council in 2016 Photo: STUFF
The council received multiple submissions to this year's annual plan that would have a direct impact on youth, including from the Marlborough Youth Trust, Sport Tasman, Volunteer Marlborough and the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce.
But most of those submissions were made, or talked to during hearings, by adults, sometimes with a young person beside them.
So when the Marlborough Youth Trust talked to their submission, they were "slightly put on the spot" when councillors asked if they had read over any other submissions affecting young people.
The youth trust hadn't been across other submissions so couldn't talk to them.
But at a planning and finance meeting a week later, when Marlborough District Council community development adviser Jodie Griffiths was presenting, she was asked if the youth council could review any annual plan submissions relating to young people next year, to which she agreed. Griffiths is the council staffer who works with the youth council.
Youth councillor Chloe Faulls, daughter of councillor Barbara Faulls, thought it was a good idea for the youth council to provide that input, as it meant the council was not left "guessing" what young people needed.
"They can just go out and ask us, and they can have more informed decisions based on that."
Twenty-one students were selected as youth councillors each year, representing all three colleges in Marlborough. They attended approximately 10 meetings a year, along with mayor John Leggett and councillors Jenny Andrews and Thelma Sowman. The youth council also received an annual budget of $60,000 for delivery of youth services.
Chloe said the youth council's focus for the year was gender inequalities in sport and mental health funding, and their annual plan submission was basically letting the council know that.
Chloe Faulls pictured with her peers in May this year. Photo: LDR / Andy Brew
She admitted they were "slightly put on the spot" during the middle of their submission hearing, when they were asked by the council if they had read any of the other submissions.
"They said there had been a lot of people that had been requesting funding around youth initiatives," Chloe said.
"We'd gone in with notes about what we were going to be talking about. And Jodie didn't know they were going to ask us as many questions as they did.
"But I think everyone who was there with the youth council on the day, they were really interested in looking at the things that might be affecting us."
Youth councillor Zoe Adams said it would be good in the future for the youth council to have a deeper understanding of what the submissions were that affected young people.
"I think it would be good so that we can be involved," she said. "We are really representing our peers, the rest of the youth of Marlborough."
The annual plan is set to be adopted this Thursday, with the council looking likely to adopt its original proposed rates rise of 5.37 percent.
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