Youth Focus Group Shanklin Estate

Ensuring that younger people are involved in having a say about where they live is a priority for Sutton Housing Partnership.

We have been visiting local areas and holding youth focus groups to find out what's really important to younger people and how they feel about living on their estates.

The Youth Group for Shanklin residents was held at the children's centre in Rookley Close. The young people who attended the day not only got the chance to talk to SHP about issues that mattered to them but were also provided with refreshments and a Nintendo Wii for them all to enjoy.

Members of SHP's Customer Involvement team used an innovative "graffiti wall" for kids to express what they loved and hated about living on the estate.

Some of the feedback given on the graffiti wall was:

LOVE IT	HATE IT
Little park near the shop	Not enough for young people to do in the area
The 'cage' on the estate	Dogs fouling on the estate
Playing with the many people who live here	Bins are always overfull and smelly
	Trees at Belmont Park get in your way
	People tell us off for playing and making noise outside their houses

The issues raised in the Youth Group and expressed on the graffiti walls are helping the Neighbourhood Manager and Sutton Housing Partnership to make improvements and solve problems.

A big thank you to all the young people who took the time to attend the group. Thank-you to Shanklin Resident Democracy for letting us use the centre and to Chris Honey and Angela Purdue who helped out and attended on the day.