To receive any questions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance of the meeting in accordance with the cabinet procedure rules. The deadline for the receipt of public questions is midnight Wednesday 7 July 2021.
Minutes:
Toby O’Connor (public questioner was unable to attend the meeting).
Given the current issues around ball courts, five-a-side pitches and similar spaces across the borough, will the council now build on elements of the climate strategy and the equalities framework to start to construct a positive and robust mechanism for the localised and meaningful engagement of children and young people on play and informal recreation provision?
Response by Councillor Jasmine Ali, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education
Southwark Council is committed to listening to young people, and is keen for young people to influence changes to existing facilities, and the provision of new youth facilities. This approach is central to the Youth New Deal, approved by the council assembly in spring 2021. The Youth New Deal sets out a number of commitments, including extending mental health Services, greater support into employment and training, a new Sure Start for Teens programme, an easy-to-use digital information hub, recommissioning youth provision around programmes that young people most want and a new Youth Parliament. Central to the Youth New Deal is a commitment to giving young people greater voice in shaping service provision and more influence in wider council policy and decision-making. Adopting this collaborative, co-produced approach not only puts young people at the heart of decision-making, but, in doing so, also ensures as strong focus on equalities and climate, to complement the council’s wider formal equalities and climate processes, which are central to the formal planning processes.
Evidence of success is the recent Quirk’s Media Marketing Research and Insight Award the council won, under the non-profit/social enterprise research project category, for the way in which young people had been engaged with during the youth review. The award recognised the comprehensive and innovative engagement exercise, which was shaped and delivered with input from young people. Different methods of engagement were used including collaborative workshops, deliberative discussions and ethnographic fieldwork (where researchers observed and interacted with participants in their real-life environment to gather an in-depth picture of the lived experience of our young people). A borough wide online survey was also developed based on the responses from the deliberative discussions and ethnographic research. Over 450 young people took part in this engagement exercise (407 via online survey).
The council has also conducted a youth-focused audit of spaces on the Brandon Estate, to understand how to create venues, which meet the needs of young people. This has led to a “toolkit” that will enable other young people and practitioners to review other spaces and places. Consultants “We Made That” worked with young people from the estate to hear about and review the local spaces that they use from their own perspective. The review and toolkit have now been completed alongside a short film made by young people. Recommendations have been issued on potential design interventions for facilities on the estate that would make them young people friendly and provide positive activities and spaces for young people. Officers are looking into options for implementing the recommendations and how the toolkit can be applied to other spaces in the borough. The toolkit could be used, for example, to shape investment in sports facilities, playgrounds and adventure play areas.
Officers will commence a consultation programme to inform the £3m capital investment programme in Adventure Play services later this summer and will deliver engagement activities with schools, young advisers and local families, using the tool kit, to ensure significant involvement from young people in designing services and facilities that meet the needs and aspirations of our young people.