Inspiring input from Youth Council

“We are very keen to involve young people in Transforming Leamington because they are the ones who will inherit the new vision and take it forward.”

Energy, enthusiasm and ideas were displayed in abundance when young people had their say on how Leamington should look in the future.

The Transforming Leamington team held a consultation meeting with members of Warwickshire County Council’s Youth Council to help them prepare a new vision for the town centre and specifically Parade.

The results were “inspiring” as the younger generation showed just how much they care about their town and want to help shape its future.

The meeting in the Royal Pump Rooms Assembly Room followed one there earlier in the day with the town’s business community and other stakeholders. The meetings were called to enable LDA Design, led by project consultant Bernie Foulkes, to gain direct input from those who live and work in the town.

A dozen members of the Youth Council attended and they came up with some fascinating views and suggestions. Among them were a desire to make some of Leamington’s green spaces more welcoming, along the lines of the much-admired Jephson Gardens, and to freshen up some of the town’s handsome, but perhaps faded, architecture, notably on Parade.

There was a feeling that Leamington does not make the most of some of its assets, including Parade. Ideas to revitalise that area including the fitting of a zipwire as a visitor attraction.    

Regeneration & Place Programme Officer at Warwickshire County Council, Sarah James, was hugely impressed by the input of the Youth Council members.

“We are very keen to involve young people in Transforming Leamington because they are the ones who will inherit the new vision and take it forward,” said Sarah. “To see them at the meeting so engaged and full of passion for the town and with lots of ideas was inspiring to see.