Council Gives Students Their Say On The Town

Councillor Lucas, Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, and Peter Finnis, the Council's Assistant Director for Strategy and Democracy were recently invited to give a presentation on Citizenship, as part of their Activity Week, to a group of Year 9 students at the Eastbourne Technology College (ETC) in Hampden Park.

Peter Finnis spoke to more than 150 students, aged between 13 and 14 years on the history of Local Government in Eastbourne.  This included the key duties of the Council and the importance of engaging with the democratic process. This was followed by Councillor Lucas talking on the significance and relevance of local politics and the key roles played by local councillors.

The Leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, Councillor Ian Lucas, says, “I hope we showed that the council is relevant to young people, is genuinely interested and wants to get ideas about the best way to provide facilities for young people.  We’ve already started a youth forum and are considering other initiatives – this meeting was a very useful occasion, and I thank all the students who took part so actively.” 

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Head of Year 9 at Eastbourne Technology College William Pratt says, “We were delighted with the presentations made by Councillor Lucas and Peter Finnis and with the student response to them.  We knew that this would be an innovative event and are very pleased to be at the forefront of this development.”

Following the presentation groups of students discussed their views on Eastbourne’s good and bad points and how they felt the Council could help with facilities for their age group.  Councillor Lucas and Peter Finnis then met each group for their feedback, and came away with a number of suggestions and ideas for further consideration.

The Council would like this activity to be used as a blueprint for more meetings with young people and will be offering similar events to other educational establishments in the town.

This was the second visit and talk at the college by Council staff, the first highlighted Health and Safety at Work, contracts of employment and dignity and equality in the workplace.  This was related to year 10 students about to undertake a week of work experience.