HADDINGTON YOUTH ENQUIRY

Creative new ways of engaging

young people in the future of their town

Haddington

Town Centre

Vision Committee

Back story

During 2011 and 2012, people in

Haddington were worried that their

town centre was in decline.

Businesses were struggling.

Buildings were tatty or derelict.

Community groups and the Council

decided that something needed to

be done.

But what? How could the town

centre once again become the

attractive, bustling heart of their

community?

Hundreds of people of all ages

shared their ideas about how to

make the town centre better. From

that wealth of creativity, the

Haddington Vision (see

www.goo.gl/z4V8O) was developed

around eight priorities:

The best town square in Scotland

Getting about

Bringing our assets to life

Re-using empty buildings

Telling the world: marketing

Community Development Trust

Get local

Enterprising Youth

The vision’s Enterprising Youth

priority is based around the belief

that Haddington’s young people are

its future.

It sounds like a cliché: but if the

town doesn’t hold onto its young

people, or attract them back after

they’ve gone away to study and

travel the world, then it is losing its

lifeblood.

Enterprising Youth is about the town

doing more to help young people feel

part of their community.

When the vision was prepared,

young people gave plenty of great

ideas about what they wanted. More

things to do during evenings and

weekends were a common theme.

This might be helping young people

to build a new skate park, run a

youth film club, promote more gigs,

or involve them in mapping out the

town’s future.

The Community Development Trust

implementing the vision should let

young people have a say in what it

does and how it is run, building on

the excellent work of the town’s

schools and youth organisations.

To start turning these ideas into

reality, social enterprise Space

Unlimited (www.spaceunlimited.org)

ran a two day youth enquiry with

young people from Haddington.

This is the story of that youth

enquiry.

The youth enquiry Space Unlimited facilitate youth

enquiries across the UK. Young

people are the catalysts in Space

Unlimited projects because they see

things differently, approach

problems imaginatively, and aren’t

afraid to say what they think. Space

Unlimited facilitators are there to

create a safe space for young people

to explore ideas, take responsibility,

broker relationships and turn their

ideas into action.

Over the two full days of the youth

enquiry in Haddington’s Bridge

Centre in December 2012, eight

young people aged between 13 and

25 explored these questions:

How can we work with young people

in the new vision for Haddington’s

town centre?

And ensure their ideas and opinions

are heard, taken seriously and acted

on?

This was a quest into the unknown

for those eight young people. Scary,

exciting, nervous and rewarding

were some of the words they used.

As their quest progressed over the

two days, the young people took

more and more responsibility – so

that by the end, they had developed

actions and principles that they

wanted to take forward.

At the end of the second day, they

presented their ideas to a group of

influential people from Haddington

Town Centre Vision Committee, East

Lothian Council, Knox Academy and

local social enterprises.

Priorities for action When the Haddington vision was

prepared in 2012, hundreds of ideas

were put forward – many of them by

young people.

The young people at the youth

enquiry looked at those ideas afresh.

By the end of the first day, they

agreed nine ideas that they would

like to see happen in Haddington:

Better skatepark

Improve Neilson Park

Mountain bike track

Activities to encourage young

people into the countryside

Promote facilities like The Bridge

Centre; it’s too little known

More events for young people:

e.g. band contests, festivals

Use derelict buildings for boxing

club, music shop, bands etc

Portal/website to promote events

& facilities for young people

Take better care of green spaces

Some of these ideas could combine.

Some might happen in the town

centre, others might not. Some

should be led by young people;

others should be led by other people

or organisations in the town.

The young people at the youth

enquiry decided on two priorities for

action that they would like to take

forward themselves.

The existing skatepark is out of date,

too small, badly maintained and has

become a focus for anti-social

behaviour. It needs to be upgraded

and expanded, probably in a new

location where it is more prominent.

This is something which young

people could lead, with appropriate

support.

Programme of gigs and band

contests to draw bands from

Haddington and further afield, using

the Bridge Centre and other venues

in the town. This is also something

which young people could lead, with

appropriate support.

Although skateboarding and music

were the priorities that this particular

group would like to take forward, the

group was keen to point out that

other young people in the town

might have other ideas. This led to

them agreeing that there should be

a third priority for action.

Roll out the youth enquiry process to

more young people in Haddington, to

give a more representative picture of

youth priorities across the town. The

group had good ideas about how to

encourage more young people to get

involved, such as competitions, a

range of days, good venues and

maybe a little compunction...

Priority 1 SKATEPARK

Priority 2 MUSIC

Priority 3 MORE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

Principles for the future By the end of the youth enquiry, the

young people put forward some

important principles that were

essential if the Youth Enterprise

element of Haddington vision is to

be successful:

Roll out youth enquiries to more

young people in the town, to

build a wider platform for action

and get a more representative

view of what young people want.

Support young people to take

forward their ideas –

skateboarding and music being

the two action ideas that

emerged from this group. There

could be other ideas around too.

Some action will by led by adults,

others by young people.

Skateboarding and music should

be led by young people with

support from adults and

organisations. Other things, like

better public transport or

improving Neilston Park, will be

better led by adults or

organisations, in close

consultation with young people.

Action is vital – it will

demonstrate to young people

that it’s worth getting involved.

Young people should be

encouraged to be ambitious and

creative, but also realistic about

what can be achieved.

Outside support At the end of the second day of the

youth enquiry, the group presented

their priorities and principles to the

group of influential people from

Haddington Town Centre Vision

Committee, East Lothian Council,

Knox Academy and local social

enterprises.

Several of them offered the young

people support to help turn the

ideas into reality, such as:

Helping put young people in

touch with key people

Greater use of Knox Academy

facilities by young people

Helping get venues and publicity

for gigs

Helping set up a music shop

Helping get more gigs and bands,

and improving publicity

Those offers of support are just

those who came along to the

presentation. It’s reasonable to

expect more from others in the

future.

What next ? As the Haddington vision says,

something needs to be done! What

is critical now is action.

During the first part of 2013, Space

Unlimited will help by meeting with

key people and organisations in the

town to broker relationships, plan for

action, and find funding and

resources – including the Council,

schools, youth organisations,

Haddington Town Centre Vision

Committee,. and the proposed

Community Development Trust. We

hope to involve some of the young

people who attended the youth

enquiry.

Our focus will be on helping local

people and organisations to work

out how they can take forward the

three priorities for action that

emerged during the youth enquiry:

involving more young people

music

skateboarding

We at Space Unlimited will do as

much as we can in the early part of

2013, but as a social enterprise our

involvement will be limited by

resources.

In the medium to long term, local

organisations must take

responsibility for supporting young

people to take forward their ideas

themselves – and for involving them

in wider projects that fall under the

umbrella of the Vision.

Future action should reflect the

principles for the future identified by

the young people at the youth

enquiry. It is important that the

proposed Community Development

Trust works closely with young

people, as it will have responsibility

for delivering Haddington's vision.

This is an exciting venture for

Haddington. There is a real

opportunity for the town to pioneer

new ways of engaging and

integrating young people in the life

and spirit of the community.

Thank you… … to the Bridge Centre, Knox Academy,

Haddington Town Centre Vision

Committee and everyone who

participated in the final presentation.

Most of all, thanks to the eight young

people; without their creativity and

commitment, we would not be at the

start of this exciting venture for

Haddington.

Gill Gracie & Nick Wright,

Space Unlimited, January 2013