Wednesday 16th July 1pm

Meeting with Cllr. Ruth Dombey

It had been agreed that Ruth would propose and I would second the motion to lower the voting age to 16 which was to be put to full Council on Monday 21^st  July. Ruth and I had arranged to meet to discuss the issues we wanted to raise & co-ordinate our speeches. The Sutton Youth Parliament had requested the opportunity to make a presentation at the meeting as they and the British Youth Council are actively campaigning on the issue, and the motion had been put off until this council meeting to accommodate them.

 

When Ruth arrived she was very cross. For council meetings the leadership & the opposition take turns to decide the order of debate of motions. This time it was the Conservatives’ choice. In consideration of the attendance by the Youth Parliament Ruth had kindly requested that Votes at 16 be the first of the three motions on the agenda to be debated. She had just learnt that the Tories had refused this request, which meant that either the members of the Youth Parliament presentation would have to wait through what we expected to be a long debate on the no confidence motion before making their presentation, or the presentation would have to come at the beginning of the meeting but the debate would not naturally follow on. We both agreed that it came across as extreme bad manners on the part of the Tories.

Tuesday 15th July 6.30pm

Safer Neighbourhoods Team Community Event

This event was specific to Carew Road and Ross Road in Wallington. The Wallington South Safer Neighbourhoods Team had organised this as the first of what hoped to be a number of engagement events targeting specific areas of the ward. Despite leafleting the area there was a low turnout of residents. However we had some interesting discussions with those who did drop in. One resident with teenage children was concerned about media reports of knife crime. Sergeant LeShirley was able to reassure them that Wallington had a very low incidence of knife crime, and Sutton was one of the safest London boroughs for any crime. I was interested to talk to the teenagers themselves about how they preferred to spend their time in the evenings. The eldest said that when younger they had ‘hung out’ on the street because there was little for them to do. When I enquired whether they would have attended a youth club had there been one locally they said no, it was not considered ‘hip’ and would have been avoided by them & their friends. When I asked what sort of things they would like to see an event similar to the Carshalton Festival was suggested, but aimed at younger people. It could provide aspiring bands with the opportunity to perform in public and could also promote positive messages. I found this an interesting suggestion and will see if it is possible to follow it up for more consideration.