A youth voice for Tiverton

This year, young people from Blundell’s, Tiverton High and Uffculme School came together in workshops to talk about their town. What they told us was powerful.

They’re tired of being written off: as lazy, as glued to their phones, as not caring about Tiverton. They do care. They’re finding life harder in this economy, and they want somewhere safe to be, things to do that don’t cost the earth, buses they can afford, and a say in what happens in the town they’re growing up in. They told us they’d get far more involved in the town if they felt safe in it. Above all, they want to be asked, and to see things change.

As Cllr David Wulff told the full council: “There is a difference between saying that we want to hear young people and actually creating a way for them to be heard.” We’re determined to do the second. Young people aren’t just Tiverton’s future: they’re part of it now, and we’ll make better decisions by listening to them.

At a workshop at the Town Hall in September 2026, young people chose three things they want to make happen:

• safer spaces, and a fresh approach to anti-social behaviour: better lighting, a revived youth centre, more police out and about and police visits to schools;
• a youth-led pop-up shop, to learn business skills, how to manage money and how to look after customers, while giving something back to the community;
• a real part in Christmas, helping to plan the festive activities and the lights switch-on and running stalls, not just turning up.

Four of them then came and spoke to the full council. On 21 September 2026 we agreed to:

• back young people to take forward their three projects, by finding the right opportunities, partners and resources;
• recognise how important it is that young people’s views are heard and considered in local decisions;
• look at the options for a lasting way for young people to have their say, led by the Town Council, and bring our recommendations back to the full council.

Nothing about its final shape has been decided yet. Young people will help decide what it’s called and how it works: a youth council, a youth forum, a youth voice group or something else entirely. And it has to be real. As Cllr Steve Lodge, Devon County Councillor, put it: “If we do this, then we do it properly.” And: “Let’s not start a youth council and then forget about it.”

Our draft Strategic Plan commits us to supporting an independent youth forum or youth council, and to thinking about young people whenever we design public spaces.

TYPES (Tiverton Young People Empowerment and Support) was set up in 2025. It brings together Tiverton Town Council, Mid Devon District Council, Devon County Council, local schools, youth support groups and charities, all working to help young people in Tiverton thrive.

Across Devon, towns such as Okehampton, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, Barnstaple, Crediton, Ivybridge and Ilfracombe have youth councils or are setting them up, several with a youth worker at their heart. Each one is shaped by its own town, and Tiverton’s will be shaped by Tiverton’s young people. Right now, there’s no formal way for young people here to share their views with us. That’s what we want to change.