News Date: Wednesday 20th October 2004
Making Worthing Worth It Wows Councillors
A meeting of Worthing Council was told what to do to improve the town in no uncertain terms on Tuesday October 19th, by a number of representatives of local schools. Pupils were taking part in the ?Making Worthing Worth It? scheme devised by one of the town?s MP?s, Tim Loughton.
In the event, 3 school groups gave such professional presentations that councillors were advised they could save a fortune in consultancy and development fees by instead enlisting the help of home grown talent from local schools.
The evening kicked off with an introduction from Tim Loughton who explained that the project had arisen out of a series of school surgeries he undertook last year which revealed a wealth of ideas to cure Worthing?s woes from local young people. He explained that the point of the presentation was threefold ...
- To expose the Council to a good source of fresh and exciting ideas to regenerate Worthing and he congratulated the Council on promoting this initiative positively during Local Democracy week
- To give young people the opportunity to put their views forward to the ?movers and shakers? in the town and have them listened to
- To help improve the image of young people in the media by showing them engaging positively and constructively with local politicians and for the council to be able to bask in their reflected glory. This follows the presentation of recently published survey findings by Young People Now magazine which showed the negative image of young people in the media
Tim Loughton commented:
'This has been a very successful event which has engaged young people, giving them a chance to have their say about how things could be improved in Worthing. All three presentations were hugely imaginative, and clearly a lot of effort had gone into them.
The Mayor Councillor Jack Saheid expressed the council?s thanks and admiration to the students to all the hard work that had gone into the presentations and one councillor described it as the most enjoyable and informative council meetings he had
ever been to. We hope that councillors and council officers will react to some of the ideas raised as they start talks with developers about possible projects in the town and continue to consult them for their ideas. We also hope that the students will have the chance to repeat the presentations to bigger audiences of the public and to local businesses.'
ENDS
Note to Editors
1. Earlier this year, Tim Loughton wrote to all the secondary schools in Worthing, inviting them to submit a project on how Worthing?s derelict spaces could be regenerated or what could be done to give Worthing the facilities it lacks to propel it into the 21st century.
2. The presentations started with the findings of a survey conducted by Worthing Youth Council which had received an incredibly high response rate of 45% from survey forms sent out to 7000 secondary school pupils in the town. This exercise reveals that decent ice skating and swimming facilities are top of the shopping list for Worthing?s young people.
Youth Council Survey Results
Sample size: 3123 (out of a total of 7000 questionnaires sent out to senior schools)
Age range: <15 years Males: 895 Females 1087
<17 years Males: 352 Females 495
<20 yrs Males: 136 Females 158
Gender Split: Male 1385 Female 1740
Female: 55.7%
Male: 44.3%
Of the suggested activities for any new leisure facility this is the breakdown of preferred options
1. Ice skating190911. Tennis265
2. Swimming pool145512. Badminton262
3. Bowling90113. Table Tennis167
4. Sauna79914. Aerobics142
5. Abseiling58615. Squash122
6. Mini golf55116. Hockey121
7. Archery528Other423
8. Climbing480
9. Gym417
10. Football390
3. ?Young People Now survey ? Positive Images; improving the media portrayal of young people?
?1 in 3 articles about young people are about crime
?71% of press stories about young people are negative
?Young people are only quoted in 8% of stories about them
?2/3 of 11 ? 18 year olds would not trust a journalist to tell them the truth
?90% of youth workers believe the tabloids are negative about young people
?69% youth workers say local papers are negative and 62% youth workers say that the broadsheets are negative
?Young people think the press is finger wagging, authoritarian and prone to exaggeration
4. A group of four students from St Andrews School (Jonathan Alderman; Jack Martin; Daniel Knight; Hoe Davis; Kavi Patel and James Line) then gave an impressive high-tech presentation which looked at a number of problem sites in the town and superimposed new buildings on them hosting a multitude of sports and leisure facilities. They envisaged a completely reconfigured Aquarena and complete overhaul of the Teville Gate and Union Place sites with imaginative new structures.
5. Former Our Lady of Sion School head boy Michael Liffen forwarded his presentation from Lancaster University where he is now a student. He had a more ambitious scheme which envisaged a major new satellite town centre in Durrington to give it the facilities that the growing development there needed and deserved. He also drew up plan for reclaimed land on the coast for building new houses and a regenerated pier to incorporate upmarket apartments and even a Eurostar link.
6. Finally Hannah McGrath and Hannah McGuckin together with their design master from Davison?s, Robert Ballack, concentrated on the Teville gate site and designed a space ship like state of the art building to fill the space adjacent to the station and car park containing several floors of sports and leisure facilities. They also did not hold back on their own ambitions to be occupying some of the existing councillor?s seats so they could bring their plans to reality that much sooner.
7. School contact details:
St Andrews ? 01903 820676
Our Lady of Sion ? 01903 204063
Davison C of E High School for Girls ? 01903 233835
The presentations in full will be available by e-mail shortly.
