Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Young Scot have joined forces to ensure young people are involved in the future of town centres
Young Scots are at the helm of a new town centre digital partnership.
Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Young Scot have joined forces to ensure that young people have more chances to participate effectively in the future planning of their town centres.
The two organisations will work in partnership to bring opportunities to tackle inequalities and connect young people to the heart of town centre regeneration policy.
The partnership was announced following the latest cross-party group on town centres meeting at the Scottish Parliament this week. Hilary Kidd, smart services director for Young Scot, will join the Scotland’s Towns Partnership board to ensure that young people participate effectively in policy development. She will also work to connect young people to opportunities within their towns - including local discounts and enhanced entitlements through the Young Scot National Entitlement Card.
The two organisations were joined by the cabinet secretary for communities and local government Aileen Campbell to launch the partnership.
She said: “Young people are the future of our towns. This alliance between Young Scot and Scotland’s Towns Partnership is an exciting opportunity to ensure they participate in decisions on digital inclusion and the regeneration of our town centres.
“At the same time, they will be building relationships with local businesses to support benefits from the Young Scot entitlement card.”
Chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership, Phil Prentice, said: “In looking at how our town centres revive and regenerate in the coming years, we know that young people need to take the lead in planning their own futures and that there is a need to move to a digital-first agenda.
“Young Scot has expertise at using digital innovation to inform, empower and connect young people across Scotland and they will bring invaluable insight and understanding to our work with towns across the country.”
Kidd, said: “Young people are experts of their own experiences and the current and future users of Scotland’s town centres. As such, their thoughts, feelings and ideas should be at the heart of any plans to regenerate Scotland’s towns. The STP and Young Scot partnership is a fantastic way to make this happen.”
