Cirencester Forum

[administrator]

Giving children the chance to learn about local government and meet Cotswold District Council Councillors will be the highlight of this month’s Local Democracy Week.

The Council has teamed up with schools from across the District to take part in the event from October 13th – 17th. Local Democracy Week is a national campaign that aims to make children aware of how local government works and the roles and responsibilities of councillors.

A key part of this year’s Local Democracy Week is the Memorable Manifesto Challenge, where local councillors are asked to write a short 250-word document on a featured theme.

The Council has been taking part in the challenge for the past three years, and this year’s themes for councillors to consider are ‘cleaner and greener’ issues, ‘something to do and somewhere to go’, and ‘safer communities’.

The councillors who have already pledged to back the event with their own manifesto are Cllr Sandra Carter, Cllr Chris Roberts, Cllr Sir Edward Horsfall and Cllr Sheila Jeffery.

The Memorable Manifesto Challenge already has support from several schools in the area, including Kempsford Primary School, Fairford Primary School, and St James and Ebrington Primary School in Chipping Campden.

Deer Park School in Cirencester is also getting involved and teachers in all the participating schools will be sent resources including quizzes and games including ‘design your own Councillor’ to be used in class. As part of the week pupils will view the manifestos and vote for the one that they think is the most appropriate and young-people friendly. The winning manifesto will be announced on Monday 20th October.

Claire Dowan, Cotswold District Council’s Youth Participation Officer, said: “Local Democracy Week, and the manifesto challenge, gives children an idea about local government, how it works and what happens here, and allows them the opportunity to meet some of our councillors.

“This will give children the chance to have an interactive look at democracy.”