Great Yarmouth Youth Advisory Board (YAB)
Minutes of meeting: Wednesday 12 July 2012 4pm
Novus Centre, Great Yarmouth
In Attendance:
Councillor Rex Parkinson Hare
Councillor Penny Linden
Councillor Colin Fox
Rob Gregory -GYBC
Nick Cheshire -Norfolk Police
Jacqui Duran - Momentum
John Leadbeater – Town and Parish Council Representative
Ben Clemment (for Patricia Fuller) Norse
Louise Hampton – YMCA Norfolk
Robin Konieczny – Youth Policy Adviser
Derice Hamblin – Youth Representative
Jordan Gowan – Youth Representative
Derry Bland - Youth Representative
Cherie Giddings
Karla George – MAP
Paul Webb - MAP
Trudi Halls - MAP (Minutes)
Action
1.Welcome and Introductions
Apologies were received from:
Trevor Cockburn, Tracey Jones and Wendy Ellis
2. Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
2.1 The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
2.2 It was decided that Jordan Gowan would Chair the group for this
meeting.
2.3 It was observed that there was not a representative from Health on
the board. RG confirmed that he would contact Elaine Mash to see if she
is able to attend.
2.4 It was confirmed that the mapping of provision had started and was
an ongoing project to ensure information is current.
2.5 Karla had met with Dan Smith re the Hive database. SIRCS have been
assigned the task of collating info on available Youth provision; however
they are in no hurry to complete.
RG
2.6 Karla confirmed that she had consulted with young people and the
Youth Engagement plan was now complete.
3. Feedback from the workshop
Feedback from the workshop held on the 27th June had been collated
into a document to detail the findings of the day. This was distributed to
the board. Nine issues had been discussed with possible solutions to
those problems sought.
The issues were:

Substance Abuse

Sexual Health and Teenage Pregnancy

Youth Workforce Quality and Sustainability

Unemployment

Transport

Provision not advertised Effectively

Lack of Leisure Facilities

Housing

Anti-social behaviour
4. Findings from the Consultation with Young People
Karla outlined the findings of her consultations with the Young people.
She went on to list the organisations and participants of the
consultation and the age ranges of young people consulted, which were;
11 – 12 year olds – 7.1%
13 year olds – 11.9%
14 year olds – 12.9%
15 year olds – 33.7%
16 year olds – 8.3%
17 year olds – 10.4%
18 year olds – 8.1%
19 + year olds 3%
20-25 year olds 4.6%
The postcodes for the consultation were;
NR30 – 28% of Young People
NR31 – 55.9%
NR29 – 16.1%
Karla explained that she had consulted with 193 young people who had
prioritised the issues in order of concern;
53% of Young People identified Teenage Crime and Offenders as their
main issue.
51% were concerned with Unemployment
46% believed Poor Health including drug use, mental health and obesity
as a problem.
44% were concerned about Anti social behaviour and safety in the
communities.
43% thought teenage pregnancy and sexual health was a big issue.
39% were concerned about the lack of leisure facilities.
31% of Young people thought transport was a problem for them.
26% believed provision was not advertised effectively.
20% thought poor community relationships were a problem in the town.
Other issues identified with less than 10% included
Bullying 8%
Health and Safety 7%
Recreation Parks to be re vamped 6%
Racism and discrimination 5%
Housing and Accommodation 4%
Yarmouth does not look nice 3%
Karla went on to explain that by carrying out the consultation the issue
of youth workforce quality and sustainability had been highlighted to
her. Some volunteers had not received basic training. After speaking
with the volunteers Karla found the volunteers would like to receive
training in the following areas
Safeguarding, Health and Safety, First Aid, Food Hygiene, Youth Work
Training and the funding of applications
JD explained that they could offer these courses from Momentum
BC also mentioned that Norse have their own training academy and he
would find out how more young people could get involved.
5. Identify and agree the Great Yarmouth YAB priorities
The group then looked at the priorities and discussed possible solutions
JD
BC
and funding options.
5.1 Transport It was felt that transport was a priority but a difficult issue
to address with the limited funds.
RK commented that additional money was coming in offering reduced
fares for 16-18 year olds. Initially however this was purely on fares from
and to Norwich.
It was identified that one of the problems was that it was difficult to
prove that a young person was less than 18 years of age. It was
generally agreed there was a possibility of looking into of providing a ID
card for proof of age.
RK also commented that it may be possible for a young person to sit on
the Community Transport Association ACTION RK
RK
5.2 Anti Social Behaviour was then discussed by the group.
NC commented the ASB had fallen by 50% in the area but that there was
still a perception that there was a high level of ASB. He also stressed
that ASB is not only a Youth Problem.
It was generally felt that ASB could only really be addressed by this
board by providing extra activities for the Young people to do within the
borough.
5.3 Unemployment The issue of unemployment was discussed. This
again was an issue that it was felt was more likely to be better
addressed rather than spending money on the issue, but by making
stronger links to business in the area. It was felt that the tourist industry
may be able to play a part in this.
5.4 Lack of Leisure Activities and Information.
The cost of some of the activities within the area was thought to be a
problem with the young people. Sporting activities were sometimes
difficult to access due to lack of information and again cost.
RG thought a case could be made to have a discount card for the young
people to use facilities within the borough at a cheaper rate. He would
try and raise this issue with Marie Hartley the Leisure Officer for the
Borough.
Transport to these activities was also thought to be a problem. BC said
he thought Norse had access to some mini buses and would check
availability.
It was also acknowledged that a lack of information about Leisure
Activities could be an issue. Young people thought that information
should be able to be sourced via Facebook or Twitter. It was also
thought that a database of information could be made through an
existing website or to work with other YAB’s and NCC to provide a
county wide scheme.
RG
BC
5.5 Reducing Teenage Pregnancy and STi’s
The board thought that by tackling a lot of the other issues this would
have a positive affect on teenage pregnancy. It was also thought that
youth providers need more distribution points to get the message over
regarding sexual health and that more C Cards should be made more
available
6.Complete the YAB commissioning priorities
Following discussion the YAB commissioning priorities were set as;

Provision of Activities

Unemployment

Promotion of Activities

Bursary Support

Transport
The bulk of the monies would be spent on support for voluntary groups.
£32,000 will be split evenly across the four neighbourhood areas. £8,000
would also be made available for volunteers to apply for.
7. Planning Future Meetings and any other business
7.1 It was agreed that future meetings would be held bi-monthly.
7.2 RK mentioned that universities have been commissioned to look at
how the YAB’s are run and to evaluate them. It is important for an
evaluator to be present and sit in on a meeting. RK to organise.
8. Date of Next Meeting
Dates for future meeting are;
Thursday 20th September 4 – 6pm Novus Centre, Great Yarmouth
Thursday 22nd November 4 - 6pm Novus Centre, Great Yarmouth
RK