Youth Parliament Works to Build Safer Communities in North Somerset
By Nic, 15, Good News Room at WCSA
Last week, the North Somerset Youth Parliament met in full for the fourth time.
The group is split into three subgroups, including Safer Communities, who are working to make North Somerset safer for young people.
In the full meeting, they reminded their peers that their first action is to teach and raise awareness of the issues that make North Somerset an unsafe community, before summarising exactly what they have been doing to nurture safety in our communities and how they plan to go forward.
They will be delivering engaging assemblies to all secondary schools across North Somerset, with the aim to teach students how to be safe in the community, correcting the mistakes of the previous generation to rebuild society.
This is shown in their acronym:
Stay together - stay in groups of trusted people.
Act - tell trusted adults.
Fact check - take a step back to think if a stranger tells you something.
Educate - remind people of the acronym.
Rebuild - rebuild the community that is fostering a culture of fear.
Report - say something to police or trusted adults if you are feeling unsafe.
Ivy, a student at WCSA aged 15, agrees with the first action of the Safer Communities group and says,
“Having a safer community will encourage people to be outdoors without being threatened or uncomfortable”.
Recently, Safer Communities conducted an anonymous survey for young people aged 11–19 in North Somerset, asking if they felt safe or unsafe in the area they live in and why.
Over 600 individuals from Yatton, Nailsea, Weston-super-Mare, Backwell and Long Ashton responded, with the highest number of responses coming from ages 13 and 14.
Overall, 87.42% of individuals say they felt safe in their area, while the other 12.58% felt unsafe.
Factors that contribute to feeling unsafe mainly consist of walking alone in unlit alleyways at night and dark, secluded areas, with more specific factors being concerns of gang activity and anti-social behaviour.
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In addition to this, there have been concerns with crossings and vehicles speeding, as well as respondents feeling discomfort around large and/or loud groups of strangers in parks and bus stops.
However, the majority said they felt safe, with contributing factors being community friendliness, open spaces, police presence and CCTV.
Some respondents gave personal safety measures that they use, such as knowing the area, being with trusted people and having a mobile phone.
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Multiple respondents had additional comments where they gave recommendations on how North Somerset’s community could be improved. These consisted of an increase in police presence, public awareness of anti-social behaviour and vaping, safer crossings and more CCTV in areas of low surveillance. Some also said that issues like gang violence and drugs should be addressed more.
“My team and I have listened to your concerns and will definitely take them into account when considering our next actions,” said Ella Fowler, Leader of the Safer Communities subgroup.
Additionally, Safer Communities are looking to tackle issues expressed by members of North Somerset Youth Parliament at their most recent parliament meeting, such as an increasing amount of young people drinking energy drinks.
