Artograffi #156
We meet the youngest mayor in the UK and find out what Amble Town Council does for young people
We visited Amble Town Council to find out what they do – and what decisions they can make especially for young people. We met Mayor Luke McTaggart, Town Clerk Vicki Smith and Cllr Ciara Dawson.
📷 Artograffi and Luke McTaggart with the Mayor’s chain of office
Maisie: Can you tell us what Amble Town Council does? How is it different from Northumberland County Council?
Luke McTaggart: The Town council is a lot smaller than the county council. We work at a more local level, we manage the areas under our control, and we’re a voice for local residents.
Eden: What is Amble Town Council in charge of?
Vicki Smith: We are in charge of litter bins, seats, bus shelters, two allotments, the High Street garden and the Memorial garden, Paddlers Park and the Play area at Philip Drive. LM: Your parents pay their council tax, some of that goes to NCC, and some (called the precept) goes to us. We receive around £265,000 per year. We have to think carefully how we spend the money and it’s never a popular decision to increase the council tax.
Donny: What can Amble Town Council do for young people? What has it done recently for young people?
LM: we regularly meet the head teachers of all four schools (Amble Links Primary, King Edwin Primary, Barndale and JCSC). We work with the Youth Project, we give out grants to support different groups. We also host our annual civic awards and there’s a junior section for that.
Lexi: Do the town councillors get paid? How many are there?
Ciara Dawson: There are nine councillors; 4 for the East ward, 2 in the Central ward and 3 in the West ward. and no we don’t get paid. We are all volunteers. There are three admin workers (two part time) who do get paid.
Indie: Luke, we heard you are the youngest mayor in the country – how old are you? How does it feel being the youngest mayor?
I’m 25, no I don’t really think about it. I just crack on
Maisie: We heard you went to our school – How long were you there? Are any of the teachers who taught you still at JCSC? Has the school changed much?
LM: I went to the Middle School, the High School then was called Coquet High School. When I was there Druridge Bay was lumped in as well. Some staff are still there; Mr Moore, Ms Bailey, Mr McNally. I was always bottom of the top set.
VS: I went to Coquet High as well, but there’s no-one still there from my time.
Esme: What did you do in your free time when you were our age?
LM: I was pretty boring, I used to draw or read a lot. I never played video games.
Eden: What is the mayor’s job? Do you have a lot of power?
LM: I have two roles; I’m the Mayor which is a ceremonial role – I have to represent the town, which is when I wear the chain. I’m also the chair of the council so I have to manage/chair the meetings, keep things on track and make sure everyone’s being heard. Together with Vicki we run the council and make sure we are doing things right and money is spent correctly.
Nina: What did you do before becoming joining the council? Why did you want to join the council or become mayor?
LM: I am an artist. I sell my work, put on exhibitions and help run events etc at the Dovecote Centre. I got involved with Amble’s neighbourhood plan and I enjoyed that so I decided to join the council.
VS: My previous job was working at Northumberland County Council, my last job I was working as a PA to the Deputy Chief Executive, but I left to have a baby. I joined Amble Town Council because I wanted to help local people.
Anna: What do you think needs doing to make Amble better?
LM: We need a sports hall so we can have sports and leisure community facility. There’s not enough community facilities. We’ve allocated £40k toward that if it gets the go ahead.
VS: We are working on transport and connectivity, making the town more walking and cycling friendly.
LM: We’re working with NE Mayor Kim McGuinness’s office too. You don’t always get an answer so you have to be persistent, tenacious. Regarding the site next to Morrisons, we’re encouraging them to market it. What would you like to see there?
[FYI: We’d like a B+M, Primark, JD Sports, Home Bargains, Aldi]
Donny: How do people get to be a councillor? Would you recommend other young people go on the town council? How many people voted for you?
VS: You have to be 18. You fill out a form. If there’s a vacancy we send the application form to NCC.
LM: We didn’t have an election for my ward. There were three vacancies and only two candidates, so we didn’t need an election.
Lexi: Do you agree with the voting age being lowered to 16?
LM: Yes. VS: Yes, it’s going to be a young person’s world
Esme: Does it stress you out, making decisions?
LM: It can be stressful, but I’m fairly level-headed. I sometimes get stressed before a decision has to be made because there’s often a lot of documentation to be prepared. I like to make sure people are well informed.
VS: Yes it can be stressful being the Clerk. Sometimes people get angry and it can get quite stressful when they don’t accept a decision. The Town Council can get blamed for some things that are not in our remit.
Indie: Pizza or burger? LM+VS: Pizza
Skylar: Cats or dogs? LM+VS: dogs
Indie: Stranger Things or I’m a Celebrity?
LM +VS: Stranger Things. CD: Neither, I’m a Trekkie!
Nina: Do you have the power to sack teachers?
VS No! LM (laughing): Was there someone you had in mind?
Jobs – powered by AI
AI is starting to take over people’s jobs and people are worrying if their job will get taken over in the future.
I think humans are better than AI because they have common sense whereas AI can make mistakes. Especially with medical issues when someones life is in danger. These are some AI robots we already use:
Cici AI, ChatGPT, Google AI, Gemini
Good things about AI
You can use it to change your appearance on a photo (e.g. Hair colour eye colour)
Helps with homework
Answers queries for customers.
It can create other AI jobs
Bad things
They’re beginning to take over people’s jobs
They can mislead people
The energy they need is bad for the environment.
Conclusion
It depends on why people are getting concerned. As AI develops, people are worried that they’ll lose their jobs to AI. But at the same time it can create a few jobs for running the AI. People make mistakes as well.
By Lexi
How to understand inflation
📷 How many crisps for £1.35?
Nowadays, if you go to shop and you want to buy a packet of crisps or sweets it costs about £1.25. We have noticed for a while that the price keeps going up but the amount of product is going down. This is annoying as £1.35 is very expensive for a packet of M&Ms. Or crisps which have like 10 crisps in.
By Eden Grace and Indie
We don’t like our PE changing rooms
Every school kid has to get changed for PE, but, the problem we have at JCSC is the changing rooms are really small, and there’s only four private places to get changed. No-one likes to get changed in the open area with the benches, because it’s not private enough. Everyone queues up to go into the toilets to get changed instead. It can make us late for PE.
So we hope our new school will have more privacy with the new changing rooms. We hope there will be separate cubicles for students so people don’t feel uncomfortable, when they get changed.
By Maisie and Sklyar
It’s not about love: How Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be just spending money
I hate Valentines Day because it’s annoying! People think that Valentines Day is about buying presents for people you love. But in my opinion, it’s really not. Valentines Day is a celebration to spend time with people you love and appreciate, not about wasting money on “Valentine’s baskets”. Instead of buying unwanted, useless cards you could give someone a hug, tell someone you love them, spend time with people you love, or tidy your bedroom. So don’t worry about not having a Valentine gift because true love isn’t about buying presents, it’s about spending time with those who matter.
By Eden Grace
