YOUNGSTERS in Bridport have found a voice to influence what happens in their town.

That voice was Rory Armstrong’s a Year 6 pupil from St Mary’s.

He addressed the town council meeting to tell members ideas the youth council had come up with.

He said: “These ideas were written down on post-it notes on the board and then narrowed down to the most needed.

“For a start if there are new housing developments in Bridport you need to ensure that the services are there before actually building them – that is space to build the local shops, play parks to ensure kids have places to go when they are at home not too far away their house.

“That ensures parents and children have fun and make sure they are safe.”

Rory also said the council needed to think of the wider picture when building homes.

He said: “If you do build houses you need to make sure that the people that are moving into Bridport have enough jobs to go around – good jobs because it is harder to get good jobs. We want to ensure they can support their families.”

He said it was also important to make sure rents didn’t just go up and up and there should be land people could afford to build their own houses on.

He also outlined why members of the youth council want to see table tennis tables on the Plottingham site.

He said: “Quite a lot of us like table tennis so we were thinking of putting table tennis tables in Plottingham so kids can come along with their pads and balls and play.

“It is sociable, you can make friends and play.”

His last point was to suggest the borough gardens should be used for more events, picnics and shows, that families find enjoyable.

Cllr Magie Ray assured him she would be putting into practice what he said about the borough gardens and the go ahead had been given for table tennis tables.

St Mary’s head teacher Helen Farmer said the children had so many ideas it was hard to refine them down to something meaningful but the process had been a great way to learn.

She said: “Some of their ideas you have to knock on the head because they are literally pie in the sky.

“It had to be something that would be manageable and where they felt they would have impact.

“We actually looked at various heading - environment, housing, jobs and they came up with ideas under those headings of what they would like to see.”

She said it was excellent that there had been approval for their idea of a table tennis tables .

She said: “Now they have an understanding that they can make a difference.”