Young people have their say on transport

Young people in Melksham are invited to showcase their ideas to help improve local transport and access, with £5000 up for grabs for the best entry.

The Melksham Area Board will be holding a special meeting on September 8 at the new Melksham Oak Community School where up to eight groups of young people will be able to present their ideas for projects.

The theme is transport and access, which could include projects such as extending opening hours to make a service more accessible, or providing a free shuttle bus service.

Cllr Jon Hubbard, Melksham Area Board member responsible for youth matters, commented: "This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to not only gain vital funding for local projects which they themselves have thought up, planned and presented, but also for them to participate in the democratic process. They will be making the choices about which projects get the money, on the night theirs are the voices that will matter.

"I hope that lots of Melksham's young people will seize this opportunity to have say in making a real difference to issue that directly affect them - choosing how the council spends some of its money on young people."

A total of £100,000 has been made available for projects after a conference last year highlighting the access and transport difficulties experienced by young people across the county. Almost £5000 of this funding has been delegated from cabinet to the Melksham Area Board for this purpose.

The event will be held at the start of the autumn term at the new Melksham Oak school. The area board is working closely with the school, youth services and extended schools to organise this exciting event which will take place from 7 - 9pm on September 8 2010.

The application process is now open and Melksham Area Board is looking for innovative ideas to help solve transport and access issues experienced by young people in the area. For an application form, criteria and guidance, please visit Sparksite, www.sparksite.co.uk. 

Staff at Canberra Youth Centre can help with applications or project ideas. The deadline for applications is July 2 2010. 

Applications must be lead by young people in Melksham community area. This includes Melksham, Atworth, Broughton Gifford, Steeple Ashton, Great Hinton, Bowerhill, Shaw, Whitley, Beanacre, Seend, Semington, Keevil, Bulkington, and Poulshot.