Youth Voice meeting

Mole Valley Youth Voice is the youth council for Mole Valley, supported by Mole Valley District Council. Its representation is comprised of secondary schools, youth clubs, and young people living in the district. It was formed in 2003 out of the need for the District Council to find an adequate voice for young people, and is an independently constituted organisation with a structure mirroring that of the District Council.

Meetings are held on a monthly basis in a formal capacity at the Council Chamber, Pippbrook. The Council formally elects its leadership every year at its AGM: Chairman, Vice-Chair, Leader & Secretary. Youth Councillors are aged 11-19, and have extensive experience of scrutinising and debating local issues.

The Youth Council decides upon its four key objectives on an annual basis, which it then seeks to work towards through four subcommittees (‘working groups’). These committees meet at the end of the Youth Voice meeting and two weeks following the meeting. The Working Groups for 2011/12 are:

• Community & Events
• Local Issues
• Engagement
• Unique

These committes are overseen by an annually elected leadership group.

Youth Voice continues to provide a valuable input from young people in the local area to local businesses, the District Council and other local services, working with key public sector providers such as the Surrey NHS PCT, Surrey Police & Mole Valley Housing Association.

Youth Voice elects two representatives to the Surrey Youth Parliament on an annual basis, an organisation which has representation on the UK Youth Parliament with six seats in the South East region.