Say it loud: the Youth Combined Authority are having their voice heard.

It’s been a year since Mayor Steve Rotheram launched the Liverpool City Region Youth Combined Authority (YCA) and a group of young people aged between 14 and 18 (25 for those with special educational needs or a disability) started work on ensuring the ‘youth voice’ was being heard by decision makers in the city region.

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Over the past 12 months the YCA have got to know each other well, devoting around two hours a week to meeting online in small groups to discuss the five Mayoral priority areas as set out in the Corporate Plan: – Economical Development and Growth, Employment and Skills, Energy and the Environment, Culture, and Transport.

They’ve also been meeting with other young people from external groups across Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral to gather their opinions and views, before feeding their conclusions back to senior policy leads in the Combined Authority, in order to influence policies and decisions with the youth voice.

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram has met with the group for an update. He said:

“I launched the Youth Combined Authority in the hope that we could give the next generation a platform to make their voice heard because, for far too long, our young people have been overlooked by decision makers and excluded from the debate on important decisions that directly impact their lives.

“Now more than ever, it’s incredibly important that young people are being encouraged to engage with politics, to stand up for the issues they feel passionate about, and make sure their views are listened to.

“It was great to hear how the past year has inspired them to want to effect real change in their communities. Together, they will be the authors of the next chapter in our region’s long and storied history.”

Chair of the Youth Combined Authority Rachel said:

“One of the main things that we as a group would like to achieve is to show that youth voice actually matters, that it is taken seriously. We’d like to see our plans and strategies, which have been formulated through the discussions we are having with the youth public right now, get implemented over the next five years.”

The Youth Combined Authority is designed to teach young people about the democratic process as well as improving skills around debating, public speaking, research and collaboration.

To find out more about the group and their role go to: https://www.liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk/youth-combined-authority/