Health and wellbeing

The health and wellbeing campaign includes several Make Your Mark issues that have been voted for in previous years by young people. Like in 2022, health and wellbeing was voted as a national and local issue for young people in the 2024 ballot.

We’ve been consulting on the sleeping habits of young people in Barnsley, presenting to the Health and Wellbeing commission board and putting the voices of young people at the forefront of decision making in Barnsley.

Our next steps are to create a podcast to advertise the importance of a young person’s wellbeing, providing tips to improve on issues such as difficulty sleeping and provide guidance from industry experts.

Crime and safety

Crime and safety were voted as the second most important issue for young people both in Barnsley and nationally. Young people were mainly concerned about:

• anti-social behaviour
• knife crime
• discrimination
• vaping
• harassment
• internet safety

Our youth council are working alongside other professionals developing strategies to tackle crime in the borough. Some ideas so far include:

• increasing awareness of policing responsibilities
• developing relationships between the police and youth
• providing knife boxes around the borough for youths to discreetly dispose of knives to create safer communities

Culture, media and sport

Feedback from Make Your Mark reflects diverse concerns and desires from young people across the borough. With an emphasis on the need for safer social media, cultural diversity, accessible sports facilities and opportunities in music and creative arts, the youth council are working alongside organisations such as Barnsley FC Community Trust to create action.

Our next steps include the following:

• Social media and media engagement: promoting internet safety and social media literacy, advocating for safer social media platforms through community engagement and lobbying.
• Culture: collaborating with businesses to plan and promote cultural events and awareness including a proposed culture day where young people experience a diverse range of activities from various cultures.
• Sport: exploring partnerships with existing facilities and sports clubs in order to develop accessible and affordable sports activities. Advocate for inclusive policies which support equitable access to sports facilities, including free transport options.

Environment and transport

As a new addition to the campaign themes, the youth council are consulting on the new transport plan for Yorkshire and the Humber. We’ve been meeting with people working within the industry to discuss what young people want to see change within transport.

2030 Board

As a youth council we've been involved in the Barnsley 2030 Board, which is about the ambition and plan for Barnsley for 2030. We've been promoting young people and their voices to be heard and looking at their plans to the future.

Culture day

We've been developing a culture day for young people to experience across schools. With the support of the youth voice team, the youth council have consulted with young people in their schools to understand what culture day could look like.

Youth council podcast

We've been planning a podcast to discuss topics from all of our campaign themes, but with a main focus on the health and wellbeing campaign. We'll kick things off by talking about sleeping habits and how young people can make small changes that could positively impact the quality of their sleep.