Milton Keynes Youth Council elections are being held in schools around the city this week.
The Youth Council is an elected group of 50 11–17-year-olds who use their voices to represent local young people. They meet monthly as well as getting involved in campaigns, workshops, and projects with City Council teams and with other organisations on topics that affect young people.
Each school is able to put forward candidates to be part of the Youth Council, and this year over 160 students are running. You can read their candidate manifestos here.
The polls opened in some schools today (6 February) with the majority voting on Wednesday 8 February. The results will be known by Friday 10 February.
All but four Milton Keynes schools are holding elections this year (as those four schools had fewer nominations than spaces allocated to them, so their candidates were automatically elected).
Jane Carr, Cabinet Member for Tackling Inequalities said: “These elections give students an early opportunity to choose who represents them in local democracy, and it’s great to see so many young people getting involved. The Youth Council members themselves get to make new friends and have some really enriching experiences while making sure the voices and views of young people are heard.”