Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence are detailed above.

Councillor Members of the Youth Cabinet are asked whether they have any interest in any item on the agenda and if so, to formally declare that interest.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 27 February 2024 are attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 February 2024 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

The Chair provided an overview of his role as Youth Mayor for the past year and explained how he has represented the Youth Cabinet at events such as Youthforia and GMYC.

The Chair advised that anyone who wished to take part in the Deputy Youth Mayor election, will need to give a speech to Youth Cabinet of why they should be elected.

Alex, Noah, Violet, Michelle and Oliver wished to take part in the election and they each provided a speech to the Youth Cabinet on the reasons why they should be elected Bury’s Deputy Youth Mayor. 

Youth Members cast their votes of who they wished to be elected as Deputy Youth Mayor and put their votes into a ballot box.

Adele Crowshaw, Youth Participation Officer counted the votes and the result was announced.

The Chair congratulated all who took part in the elections.

It was agreed:

1. Violet was elected as Bury’s Deputy Youth Mayor for the municipal year 2024-2025, Violet will then become Bury’s Youth Mayor for the municipal year 2025-2026.

Youth Cabinet motion attached.

The Chair reported that the Youth Cabinet motion was passed at full Council on the 20 March 2024. The Chair explained that the motion was around vaping which was one of the main issues for young people from the Circles of Safety Event.

The Chair provided an update of where each action was up to and shared the letter which was sent from the Chief Executive to lobby the government around making disposable vapes illegal and tighter restrictions on marketing and shared a statement around Bury Council’s commitment to investigate the sales of vapes to young people under 18.

The Chair explained that the Youth Cabinet will be looking for funding to commission an artist to build a sculpture with discarded vapes to use as a part of a wider education programme delivered by Bury Youth Service.

Youth Members provided ideas on how they can take forward this action which included contacting charities for funding, contacting colleges around making the sculpture and to contact schools and colleges to ask what they do with confiscated vapes and whether these could be donated to create the sculpture. 

It was agreed:

1.         Discuss how to create the sculpture further in the informal Youth Cabinet meetings and feedback plans to the next formal Youth Cabinet Meeting.

2.         Courtney to speak with Bury College staff around how they dispose vapes.

Youth Cabinet Members took place in a debate on whether social medial should be banned for 16’s. There was a side for an against.

It was agreed by a majority vote that social media should not be banned for under 16’s.

It was agreed:

1.         The chosen debate topic for the next meeting is - should you be able to vote at 16?

As this was The Chair’s last meeting as Youth Mayor, he gave a speech around his role as Youth Mayor and gave thanks to the Mayor, the Youth Service, Democratic Services and wished the new Youth Mayor and Deputy Youth Mayor success in their roles going forward.