Young people challenge councillors on issues

That was the challenging question put to councillors by some of the youth of the Borough at a special meeting in the Cloonavin on Tuesday night.

Representatives of Coleraine’s NEELB Youth Service attended the Policy and Development Committee meeting and addressed councillors on their Youth Citizenship Project for the year.

There were presentations from various youth groups including Sunlea in Harpur’s Hill and Portrush Youth Club.

Some members of the Youth Council presented the findings of surveys they had carried out among their young peers.

One interesting finding was that the youth were frustrated with councillors being elected along traditional sectarian lines.

“We asked who would be prepared to vote in a Council election and no one would,” said one of the speakers JD Coulter.

“If none of us wants to vote, who is going to vote you back in?” he asked the assembled councillors.

Many topics were touched up such as the price of public transport, a lack of music venues, lack of sports facilities and the poor state of some local parks.

The councillors were impressed by the presentation given by the young people and particularly with the thought that had gone into the research and findings.

It was agreed unanimously to maintain links wit the Youth Council in the future.