Young Mayor of Newhaven
On Thursday 2nd July 2009, the young people of Newhaven voted for the first Young Mayor of Newhaven – Daly Tucknott. Daly is a 13yr old student at Tideway School and it will be his job to represent 11-17yr olds in Newhaven.
Daly’s opponent in the Young Mayor elections, 12yr old Chloe Leister, will be the Deputy Young Mayor.
Daly has already attended his first official engagement as Young Mayor – the annual RNLI Fete on West Quay on Saturday 4th July, which he attended together with grown up Town Mayor, Councillor Carla Butler. Afterwards, he was interviewed by Seahaven FM.
Daly says “Some young people in Newhaven have a bad reputation. I think that is partly due to the fact that there is not much for them to do – or they are not aware of things that are available. I would like to make the youth more aware of the different groups in the area by helping them promote the activities that they offer.
“I am supporting the re-opening of the West Beach. I believe that the West Beach is an iconic part of Newhaven and that it is wrong that it has been taken away from the Newhaven community.
“I want to campaign for better park equipment. Having seen Seaford, Peacehaven and Denton’s park equipment, it feels like the Fort Road Recreation Ground has been left out. I would like to find out when improvements will be made and get behind them. Fort Road Recreation ground park currently offers nothing to young children and even older youths who are not into skating.
“I also want to look at cheap bus fares for young people – I think that it’s important that young people can easily afford to get to youth activities.”
Daly will be in post until September 2010 working with Newhaven Town Council to help take decisions that affect young people. He will attend Council meetings when there is something on the agenda affecting young people and will be given the opportunity to express the views of the young people he represents. He will also have a budget of £500, which he can spend on a suitable project for the benefit of young people.
