Youth Council

Harborough District Youth Council

The Harborough District Youth Council was established in January 2025 for 11–18-year-olds who live or go to school in the district. The Youth Council was created to hear the voices of the young people in the district and to give them the opportunity to work on matters that are important to them. 

Currently, the Youth Council has members from Welland Park Academy, Robert Smyth Academy, Kibworth Mead, Lutterworth High, Lutterworth College, Leicester Grammar School and Beauchamp College. It has recently formed a leadership team made up of a chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, media and communications officer and outreach and inclusion officer:-

  • Chair - Isobel, Beauchamp College
  • Vice Chair and Secretary - Melika, Robert Smyth Academy
  • Treasurer - Amelia, Beauchamp College
  • Media and Communications Officer - Amelie, Lutterworth College
  • Outreach and Inclusion Officer - Rosie, Leicester Grammar School, Stoneygate

News

Finance Champions Programme - a Youth Council initiative

February was a busy and exciting time for the Youth Council as they hosted their government funded programme Finance Champions at Kibworth Cricket Club. This project was funded by the UKSPF with money the Youth Council were allocated and were able to decide how to spend. The Youth Council brainstormed ideas and created a focus group to work on the project; between them they decided to run a workshop all about money and finance as this is something they feel they don’t learn enough about at school.

The Youth Council decided this programme would benefit year 10 students the most and all schools in the district were invited to bring along four students each. Youth Engagement Officer, Becca Powell, worked with HDC's economic development team and Nicola Moss from The Business Work Experience Hub CIC to help the Youth Council focus group develop a programme. 

Two finance experts delivered some really valuable presentations covering topics like understanding payslips, university vs apprenticeship- the real cost, credit vs debit, hidden costs, scams and so much more that the young people engaged so well with!

Feedback on the day was fantastic: 

“Our young people who began with little to no knowledge or the world of finance have significantly benefited from the engaging sessions, gaining not only a strong foundation in financial literacy but also the confidence and motivation to navigate the financial world with assurance.”- Mohammed Seedat, accounting and finance teacher from Beauchamp College

“It was a pleasure to attend the Finance Champions Programme in Kibworth- an excellent initiative originally put forward by our Youth Council and funded by the UKSPF.

"I was so pleased to see it brought to life and delivered so successfully. It was fantastic to see children from a number of schools taking part; they were fully engaged, asked thoughtful questions, and showed a real interest in learning about finance. A great example of young people shaping positive opportunities for their peers.”- Cllr Jo Asher

It was a fantastic opportunity for the Youth Council to see a project through from start to finish and feel empowered that their ideas were taken on board and turned into a really successful event. Well done to the Youth Council for shaping this project and providing a valuable opportunity for other young people in the district.

East and East Midlands Youth Voice event 

Another exciting opportunity that came up for the Youth Council was a Youth Voice event that was held in Mansfield and ran by Young Leicestershire and the East and East Midlands Regional Youth Work Unit.

The Youth Council were invited to attend during half term and four members and Youth Engagement officer Becca went on the train to Mansfield to take part. 

They took part in three workshops including:

  • “Migration and Hope” - a journey for a young person to find sanctuary, to help strengthen young people’s knowledge and confidence in tackling major social issues such as conflict and migration (pictured on the right)

  • Youth Matters - Your National Youth Strategy, where an employee from The Department of Culture, Media and Sport talked to the young people about the new strategy, strengthening the voice of young people to direct the future of youth services and thinking about what the new strategy means for young people

  • ‘My Life, My Say’ Democracy Café - voting for 16+, which supported young people to understand how their voice, vote and lived experiences can contribute to local and national change.

The young people found the event really interesting and exciting, they met and spoke to different people from across the East and East Midlands, they discussed and debated some important topics and overall had a great day out!

March 2026 meeting

At the latest Youth Council meeting on Thursday 12 March, young people who attended the East Midlands Youth Voice event last month in Mansfield and the focus group for the Finance Champions programme shared with the rest of the Youth Council their experiences and welcomed questions from other Youth Council members.

As it was Your Vote Week 9-15 March, we spent time looking at why voting matters, what problems young people might face when it comes to voting, what happens if young people don’t vote and how young people can be encouraged to vote.

We also looked at what people need to vote such as being 18+ (currently) in England and needing photo ID to vote in person. We talked about how the UK Government is currently in the process of lowering the voting age to 16 and how a new law called the Representation of the People Bill 2026 has been introduced to Parliament but there are still some stages to go through before the Bill potentially becomes law.

We introduced the Youth Council to the current Community Governance Review on whether Market Harborough should have a town council or not. We took the opportunity from this to talk through the role of parish councils and what they do what and take responsibility for, why they matter to young people and what might change if Market Harborough does get a town council. The young people engaged really well and shared some insightful thoughts when we asked them for their thoughts on the following questions whether they already have a parish council or not. 

What should a parish council do for young people? 

  • Ensure parks are clean                                    

  • Create fun activities 

  • Listen to what young people want the most 

  • Mental health awareness

  • Youth groups 

How do you think parish councils could engage young people more?

  • Through social media and events

  • Posters and discussions at school

  • Enabling young people to have a say on local matters

February 2026 meeting

At our last meeting which was held on Thursday 12 February at Welland Park Academy, to support the Youth Council's priority around the environment, we welcomed HDC's Environmental Services team.

They spoke to the Youth Council about what their team does, what they're responsible for such as recycling, different types of waste and what happens to it and the introduction of food waste.The team are welcoming a whole new fleet of vehicles soon and they’re hoping to have them named. We asked the Youth Council for different theme ideas they think that it would be good to include.

At this meeting we also looked at a communications plan; the Youth Council now has a logo they will soon be launching and along with this we are doing some work around the best way to keep stakeholders up to date and informed with the work of the Youth Council. They identified some different stakeholders such as young people, parents, councillors, schools and the local community. They thought about the best methods of communication for these and the importance of keeping them informed.

The Youth Council’s media and communications officer will work with officers to develop this into a communications plan and take the lead on putting it into place.

Janurary 2026 meeting

At Januay's meeting held at Lutterworth College, Chair, Isobel, shared feedback from the previous meeting around the young people's strategy that is being revised by Becca Powell, Youth Engagement Officer. The areas outlined in the developing young people's strategy have come from previous work the Youth Council have done and areas of interest and concern they have identified, which we have reviewed and revised this academic year. These are: 

  • Skills and opportunities for young people
  • Environment and climate action
  • Affordable housing
  • Youth engagement and voice
  • Activities for young people

The Youth Council members were asked in the areas above, what they feel isn’t working right now, what they think it should look like in the future and what the Youth Council can do to make that happen. This will help to shape the young people's strategy to ensure it is relevant to young people.

We welcomed Miranda Mumford from the Economic Development team who spoke to the Youth Council about the Government’s Work Experience Guarantee. Miranda is starting a piece of work to support young people in the district with gaining valuable work experience and helping businesses to provide opportunities for work experience in different capacities. The Youth Council will continue to help shape this piece of work.

Last year, the Government launched the National Youth Strategy and it resulted in over 14,000 responses from young people ranging from 10-21 years old and up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including Harborough District Youth Council members.  This gave young people the opportunity to have their say on what the Government should do to help young people right now, what their biggest worries are and what their hopes are for the future.

From this, Youth Matters - Your National Youth Strategy, was created which outlines a 10-year plan with 10 actions the Government have committed to taking. These vary from keeping young people stay safe to health and wellbeing to places to go and delivering with young people.

We asked the young people to look back on what they said at the time and see whether these were in the strategy. The young people identified lots of links between what they’d said and what the strategy says which was really positive for them to see.

We will continue to review developments as a result of the strategy, to ensure that young people in the Harborough District are able to benefit from the initatives.

Joining the Youth Council

If you would like to become a member of the Youth Council, or you know someone who might, please see the ‘get on board’ document under 'useful links' below and complete the signup steps. Parents/guardians will then be emailed a consent form which needs to be completed before the young person attends their first meeting.

Each month an rsvp/attendance form is sent out to the young people to confirm they are attending that month’s meeting. Meetings alternate between Market Harborough and Lutterworth each month. This form is also where the young people can tell us if they require a space on the community transport bus which goes between Lutterworth and Market Harborough.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact Becca Powell, Youth Engagement Officer at youthvoice@harborough.gov.uk.

Upcoming meetings

(all meetings are on Thursdays, 5.30pm-7.30pm)

Locations (unless specified otherwise):

  • Market Harborough - the council chamber, the Symington Building, Adam and Eve Street
  • Lutterworth - the main hall at Lutterworth College, Bitteswell Road

Dates:

  • Thursday 16 April- Market Harborough
  • Thursday 7 May- Lutterworth
  • Thursday 4 June- Market Harborough

Useful links: