On Monday 20 February, Harlow Youth Councillors invited all Harlow adult councillors to take part in an Apprentice TV show style activity at the Latton Bush Centre.
The activity evening was delivered in the format of the BBC reality game show ‘The Apprentice’, and consisted of mixed teams of youth councillors and adult Councillors working together to come up with a fictional idea for an exciting new facility for Harlow.
Teams were given a brief about a made-up new development for Harlow consisting of new homes, a community allotment and good transport links into town. They were also given a pretend budget for their facility and were asked to consider the council’s climate change agenda and the health and wellbeing of the community.
Each team had 3 minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of four judges made up of council staff, explaining why their idea should be chosen, a breakdown of costs showing how they had stayed in budget, and the name chosen for their facility. Once all pitches had been heard the judges decided which teams were fired and which team was hired.
Councillor Russell Perrin, Leader of Harlow Council, said:
“The evening provided a fun opportunity for adult and youth councillors to get to know each other and work together as a team. Enabling the youth councillors to gain valuable insight into our roles as Councillors and the process involved in making big decisions that affect Harlow town and its residents.
“The Youth Councillors demonstrated a keen interest and talent for generating practical ideas, as well as confidently presenting them to their team and the judges.
“It is very inspiring to see Harlow young people interested and engaged in local politics and we look forward to working more closely with the Youth Council to build a foundation for a strong working relationship in the future.”
Harlow Youth Council is a locally elected group of 13- to 19-year-olds who live in or attend school in Harlow. As a group, the Youth Council represents the views and opinions of young people in the town.
Harlow Youth Council is not affiliated to any political party and is politically neutral. All young people can have their say, through their youth councillor, about issues that affect them.
To find out more about Harlow Youth Council, please visit: www.harlow.gov.uk/youth-council
