Young urge Arun to get area cleaned up

The need to ensure that streets and seafronts were kept clean and tidy was among the priorities from this year's Arun youth conference.

Allied to this request was a strict policy of litter picking and raising awareness of recycling.

The delegates to the conference from Bognor Regis, Felpham and Angmering community colleges, Westergate and Littlehampton community schools, St Philip Howard Catholic High School at Barnham and youth groups also wanted more to be made of their achievements.

They stated that they believed young people should contribute to their communities by volunteering, being aware of developments in their area and taking some responsibility for their actions.

The thoughts and suggestions were displayed on a three-metre high poster at the conference.

They will be used in a scaled down A5 leaflet for later distribution.

The conference was organised by the Arun Youth Council. It took place at the Flinstone Centre in Littlehampton with the theme of the government's Every Child Matters plan to help each youngster achieve five simple outcomes such as 'be healthy' and 'stay safe'.

Arun Youth Council chairman Rob Peters (17), a Littlehampton Sixth Form College student said: "The conference is positive for the youth council because we have some material with which to go to Arun District Council and say to them we believe they could do more in certain areas."

He described the conference as the best he had known since he started attending them six years ago.

Former Bognor Regis Community College sixth former Matt Hoff, the youth council's vice chairman, said: "It's fantastic that all the young people have come here and told us what they want.

It just shows that, despite all the reports about them causing mayhem on the streets, they are concerned about what is going on in the district and they are prepared to contribute positively."

His particular concern was to achieve more favourable publicity about young people, he added.

Arun's leader, Cllr Gill Brown said: "I must echo Rob's sentiments and say that the quality of work produced by students this year is among the best ever, and I sincerely congratulate him and the youth council for their hard work.

"I want to reassure him and all the other young people who put so much thought and effort into producing a fine set of outcomes, that the council will look at these very carefully and take them into consideration when making decisions that affect young people in the future."