Modern life poses many challenges for young people. While Wokingham Borough Council has limited power to help, we are doing what we can to assist children and young adults to navigate the choppy waters that they are experiencing.
Together with Thames Valley Police and other agencies in a local community safety partnership, the council is trying to equip school-aged children to avoid the dangers of online exploitation and the use of harmful substances.
Work we have done with the Institute of Health Equity at University College London has given us a better sense of the problems of disadvantaged youngsters in a generally well-off borough. Those whose families do not share in the general prosperity fare less well in education than children of parents with similar income levels in less affluent areas. Now we have the data to show the nature of the problem, we can work with local academy trusts to try to ensure that every child has the best start in life, regardless of the income level of their parents.
We have been listening to young people about their experiences of public transport and understand that they want bus services that better suit their needs. As part of a wider commitment to improving transport connectivity in and beyond the borough, the council has supported the introduction of new bus services and the extension of hours of operation to enable buses to help young people travel safely in the evenings and at weekends.
A concern for many young people is employability in a rapidly changing labour market. Even graduates are in some cases struggling to find appropriate opportunities. Wokingham Borough Council is keen to find opportunities for young people to take up apprenticeships and has also forged a strategic partnership with the University of Reading to help us develop effective ways to assist young people prepare for employment and get a good start in the world of work. The university has a great deal of expertise on skills and employment, and our own economic development team is benefitting from the collaboration. At a recent high-level meeting, representatives from the university and the council agreed to make helping young people into work a priority for the coming year.
Looking beyond education and employment, a major challenge for young adults in our area is the cost of housing. Market housing is beyond the reach of most young people, even those at the start of what will become well-paid careers. For those on lower incomes, the prospect of acquiring a place of their own seems very remote indeed. Wokingham Borough Council is doing what it can to help by seeking, through its new local plan, to increase the proportion of Affordable Housing on market developments. We want Affordable Housing to comprise 40% of the new dwellings on major developments (defined in national policy as ten dwellings or more), as compared with the current 35%. While that increase may not seem significant, it should, in time, make a real difference to the affordability of housing in the borough. Meanwhile, we are exploring whether one of the council’s own housing companies could intervene in the private rental sector, offering cheaper rents and good quality landlord services.
All this, and more, adds up to a concerted drive on the council’s part to address some of the key challenges facing our young people. There is much more that we need to do, but we have made a start.
