Wokingham

Young people from the Wokingham district quizzed a panel, made up of a range of people responsible for providing local services, at an ’Ask the Panel’ event held at Wokingham District Council’s civic offices on Monday February 13.

Around 20 young Wokingham people between the ages of eight and 18 years old put their views and questions to the panel consisting of members of the council including chief executive Doug Patterson, chairman of the Wokingham council Cllr Iain Brown and leader of the Wokingham council Cllr Frank Browne and representatives from the Reading Buses and Thames Valley Police.

Amongst topics discussed were local transport issues including the need for more bus services and cycle routes, the use of I.D. cards, development of a local youth café and community safety concerns.

This was the second ‘Ask the Panel’ event to have taken place since its launch last October. The question and answer sessions give young people the opportunity to have their opinions and ideas heard and thereby influence how Wokingham council and other service providers think when developing services for the community. With the success of the first two events, Wokingham District Council plans to hold similar events on the first Monday of each school holiday with the exception of the Christmas break.

Yan Couper-Harris, a pupil at Waingels College who attend the event, said: “I thought that the ‘Ask the Panel’ meeting was again very successful. There were a lot of good points raised and a lot of good answers given by the panel. I also thought we had some good discussions going on, especially on I.D. cards.”

Wokingham Cllr Frank Browne, leader of the council, said: “The ‘Ask the Panel’ sessions act as an important conduit for two way communication between those providing services and young people who live in the Wokingham district and use those services. These sessions are a vital way for council officials and other professionals to understand what issues concern young people, what they like about our services and what things they would like to see that are not already being provided. We were delighted at the number of young people who attended the latest ‘Ask the Panel’ event, especially as it was held on the first day of the half term break which is a measure of how much importance young people place on services available to them.”

Wokingham District Council