Redbridge Youth Elections 2022

To coincide with the launch of the Child-Friendly Action Plan launch on Saturday 26 February, Youth Election 2022 announcements were made by Cllr Elaine Norman, Cabinet Member for Young People and Children.

Over 12,000 people voted to elect members of Youth Parliament (MYP) for 2022-24, who represent Redbridge nationally and run Redbridge Youth Council as well as working on their manifesto promises. 96 young people from Redbridge were nominated as candidates which has been the highest number yet!

38% of young people in Redbridge aged between 11 to 19 years voted (based on 32,862 11-19 years old resident population). The school with the highest Youth Election turnout for 2022 was Loxford School with 1,255 ballots. The school with the highest percentage turnout was Ilford County High School with 98% of pupils voting.

Colin Stewart, Director of Education at Redbridge Council highlighted some of the key achievements by Redbridge Youth Council (RYC):

• Redbridge had the highest percentage turnout in London and are third in the country overall in the national Make Your Mark campaign reflecting the importance Youth Voice is given in Redbridge
• Young people co-designed artwork with Space Studios and helped to develop a nature map of Redbridge and set up Grow Zones around Fairlop Waters
• Helped to support young people with a detailed Back to School Covid-19 leaflet on what to expect when returning to school after lockdown
• Took their research and development of young people’s priorities to the External Scrutiny Panel in February 2022.

Councillor Elaine Norman, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People announced the newly elected Youth MPs and Ambassadors. She said “Congratulations once again to our 2022 Members of Youth Parliament and well done to all the candidates who worked so hard to make the 2022 Youth Election. I would like to close by once again thanking you all for attending and thanking our newly elected Youth MPs and Ambassadors in advance for the work they will do in helping to make Redbridge a Child Friendly Borough.”

A big thank you to our previous MYPs, Ahmed Rahman and Faizan Ahmed and deputy, Raul Andrei-Tinca for all their hard work over the past two years, especially during the pandemic. A warm welcome to our newly elected Youth MPs, Abdul Mateen Riaz and Annmarie Jaxen, and Deputy, Aarav Prabhkar.

You can find out more about the Child Friendly Redbridge Programme here and the people involved here: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/childfriendly/child-friendly-redbridge/

You can also follow what we are doing on the following Instagram accounts: @redbridgeyouth and @redbridgecouncil and via Twitter @redbridgelive

Please do follow, like and share using the hashtag #childfriendlyredbridge #youngredbridge or #cfr