Councillors get a web grilling

OLDHAM councillors face their toughest audience yet during the event “I’m a Councillor, Get me out of Here!”

As part of Local Democracy Week young people are being encouraged to visit the specially created website www.bigvote.org.uk to question councillors on hot topics from local government to anti-social behaviour.

Each day this week, young people will get the chance to vote for the councillor they like most — councillors who fail to impress will be evicted from the website while the winning councillor will be named “I’m a Councillor Youth Champion”.

The event gives young people the opportunity to turn traditional power structures upside down and become involved with their local council, councillors and community.

Young people choose the issues they want to discuss with councillors, ask the questions and decide which councillor wins.

The event lasts until Friday.

Almost every council in Britain took part last year and ran events which encouraged young people to get more involved with their local council and community.

The Oldham councillors taking part in this year’s event are: Ian Barker, Jim McMahon, Mohib Uddin, Phil Rogers, Dave Hibbert and Martin Dinoff.

Oldham Council’s senior youth work manager, Jodie Barber said: “The breadth of questions asked is phenomenal which goes to show that young people are interested in politics and do have meaningful contributions to make.”

Chairman of Oldham Youth Council, Mohammed Adil added: “It shows the councillors what young people in Oldham care about.”

To keep up with what’s going on or for more information visit www.bigvote.org.uk or contact Jodie Barber on 0161-770 3116.