News
Young People's View's
22 Aug 2008
Almond Youth Participation Event
Summary of results:
Local shops, friends and Kirkliston Leisure Centre were rated as the best things about Almond. Open All Hours, Kirkliston Community Centre and its Wednesday Youth Club were also mentioned. The parks and spaces to play football were also valued. Litter came top of the worst things. There were other responses expressing concern about the cleanliness of the area due to vandalism, graffiti rubbish and dirt. The young people wanted more shops but there were a number who expressed negativity about the new houses being built. The top thing to change was the lack of things to do and to improve the existing facilities in the area.
Methods
The consultation event took place within the Open All Hours provision at Kirkliston Leisure Centre, in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure. The data was collected using postcards rather than a questionnaire as a way of making the process more user-friendly. A large-scale map of the Neighbourhood Partnership area was displayed on the wall at the event to allow young people to pinpoint specific locations. A follow up visit was made to the event venue with graphical representations of the answers given on the postcards to give young people a chance to see the initial results and to add extra comments.
Results
43 young people contributed to the survey; 25 males, 17 females and one of unknown gender. The results below include additional feedback from the Wednesday Youth Club attendees.
1. The best things about the area
The top answers given were;
Local Shops 35%
Friends 26%
Kirkliston Leisure Centre 26%
Open All Hours 23%
Local Parks 19%
2. The worst things about the area
The top answers given were:
Litter 35%
Lack of Things To Do/ Places To Go 28%
Not Enough Shops 21%
Too Many New Houses 12%
Vandalism 12%
It was not only street litter that young people were concerned about; rubbish left on building sites and at the distillery, dog dirt, dirty streets and state of the reservoir were also mentioned during the consultation.
