Around 20 young people aged between 10 to 19 came together to help shape the future of the city.

Preston’s new city strategy has youngsters from across Preston giving their thoughts.

Put on by Preston City Council and working with partner groups in the city has held two sessions with young people from all parts of Preston.

Read more: Preston Youth Zone to be called ‘Vault’ as young people put spades in the ground

The group were taken to The Flower Bowl at Barton last week to refine a ‘vision statement’ for the city from young people which will be part of the Preston City Council city strategy.

Blog Preston was invited along to hear what young people had to say about life in Preston.

The key issues focused on the lack of a clean-looking city, difficulty accessing good quality food at reasonable prices and feeling like there’s not enough spaces where young people can go in Preston (which don’t cost lots of money to spend time in).

One young person, who is disabled, also raised the lack of disabled-friendly access in the city saying there were still ‘too many steps’.

A number of youngsters spoke of their desire to leave Preston as soon as they could – wanting to move abroad or spend their time in big cities such as Liverpool.

Others spoke fondly of their area of the city – from Avenham to Ingol – and the pride they had in their communities, families and friends.

We spoke to Denley Evans, 13, who lives in Moor Nook and attends Moor Park High School about what life is like for him. You can listen below or on Soundcloud.

Imogen, 10 and Emily, both from Avenham and 10-years-old and who attend The Foxton Centre’s youth programme gave their thoughts on what the key issues are and how more needs to be done on the environment and fly-tipping in the city or on Soundcloud.

Community engagement officer for the city council, Marc Dunne, said: “The Preston Youth Strategy development has involved young people throughout the whole process and has focussed on issues raised by young people and services that support young people in the city.

“In the workshop the young people will be helping us develop the strategy vision for Preston and telling us why change is important for Preston to make the city better for the young people of the future.

“During its development, the collaboration and joint working of Preston Youth Forum partners has been fantastic and has been instrumental in making events like tonight a great success.”

The space, food and entertainment for the young people involved in the sessions was provided by The Flower Bowl – which is run by the Toppings Family who have been long-term supporters of establishing a Youth Zone in the city.

Organisations working on the youth strategy include Preston North End Community Education Trust, The Foxton Centre, Compass Bloom, Vault Youth Zone, Wot Wud U Do, Lancashire County Councils Moor Nook Youth Team, Harris Museum and Jamea Mosque Youth Group.

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