Published: Wednesday, 8th February 2023
The votes have been counted and verified and Royal Greenwich has a new set of young councillors after a well-fought election for the Greenwich Young People’s Council.
On Thursday 2 February 2023, 23 GYPC members were welcomed into office during the official election ceremony at Woolwich Town Hall.
Young people from schools and youth hubs were given the opportunity to put themselves forward to join the GYPC, an elected group of young people who represent views of children and young people, and influence decision-making within the council.
This year, 28 nominees took part in a rigorous election campaign, with 23 elected after ballots were cast in participating schools.
There were also 10 candidates to be a member of the Youth Parliament and associated Deputies.
The campaign was well run by all nominees, and an impressive 6,131 votes were cast across schools, with a turnout of 48%.
GYPC can announce their Members of Youth Parliament 2023-2024 as:
- Timi Jibogu
- Obed Poto-Poto
And their deputies:
- Oluwaseunbabara Symone
- Samson Agboola
The ceremony was attended by Cllr Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, along with Cllr Matt Morrow, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, and Cllr Leo Fletcher, the Mayor. They joined the outgoing and incoming youth councillors, their family and friends, and supporting teachers and youth workers to see the results unfold.
Cllr Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, said: “The GYPC is a great platform for young people to have their voices heard and as the Leader of the Council it was a privilege to be there to see new members be elected. I can already tell that this group have ambitions to make real change and I look forward to hearing their ideas.
“I want to congratulate all nominees for a well fought campaign. I know first-hand how difficult elections can be, but the hard work starts again once you’ve won!”
Cllr Morrow added: “I’m really grateful to all outgoing councillors for their hard work during their term of office, I know I have found it really insightful to work with them and I hope they are proud of all they achieved.
“We're lucky to have such an engaged and ambitious group of young councillors in Royal Greenwich and I’m really looking forward to seeing what they can do, once they’ve recovered from their election campaigns!”