New Website Goes Live for Young People

A new website has been launched by South Tyneside's Young People's Parliament in a bid to encourage more youngsters to get involved and make a difference.

The new website includes a host of information on the group's campaigns as well as showcasing the impacts young people can have on issues that affect them while making new friends and having fun.

The new site was launched at an event in South Shields Town Hall where the final actions from the group's latest campaign were presented.

The Young People's Parliament's latest campaign is on Health and Wellbeing. An event held last year highlighted that a wealth of support was available to young people but many did not know where or how to access it. To remedy this, the Young People's Parliament arranged for a range of organisations, such as Matrix, Youth Services and Bright Futures, to showcase their services. At this final event schools presented how they had used this knowledge to deliver their own campaigns to make students and staff aware of the help available.

Luke Hall, South Tyneside's Member of the Youth Parliament, who represents the Borough's young people at a local and national level, said: "We know the pandemic impacted a lot of young people negatively as they missed out on schooling and meeting up with friends. That's why we felt it was really important to find out just what support is available and raise awareness on how to access it."

As part of the campaign, a photography competition was run to highlight the Borough's 'active spaces.' These will be created into a series of postcards, signposting where young people can go to get active and stay well.  The winning entries will also feature in the Council's tourism campaign to promote South Tyneside.

Councillor Anne Hetherington, Lead Member for Adults, Health and Independence, added: "One of our ambitions is for people in South Tyneside to stay well and healthy throughout their lives. I'm indebted to our young people for reminding us all about how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Our stunning coastline and green spaces lend themselves to a whole host of activities to boost health and wellbeing."

Councillor Adam Ellison, Lead Member for Children, Young People and Families, said: "Taking care of our physical and mental health is something that should be started when we are young so I am grateful to our Youth Parliament for raising awareness of this and highlighting how our young people can stay healthy but also get support when they need it."

To find out more about the work of the Young People's Parliament, visit www.southtyneside.gov.uk/stypp