Young people in Melksham will be showcasing their ideas to help improve local transport and access, with £1,000 up for grabs for the best entries.

The Melksham Area Board will be holding a special meeting on September 8 from 7-9pm at the new Melksham Oak Community School where up to six groups of young people will be presenting their ideas for projects. The meeting is open to the public and everyone present will be able to vote on the projects and influence how to allocate the funding.

The theme for this grant giving meeting is transport and access for young people. Projects include activities that young people would not normally be able to access. This includes bringing a trainer from London to Melksham to teach parkour. Several of the groups of young people plan to use the funding to reduce the cost of activities to make them more affordable. These include visiting Club Boom, going on a high ropes course, subsidising bus fares, and minibus hire to reach activities further afield such as ice-skating and the cinema.  Another innovative idea proposed is the production of a pocket-sized card with details of bus routes and fares to help young people to travel around the area. 

After the voting, Cllr Lionel Grundy, cabinet member for children and young people, will be available to take any questions from the public. 

Cllr Jon Hubbard, Melksham Area Board member responsible for youth matters, commented: "This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to not only gain vital funding for local projects which they themselves have thought up, planned and presented, but also for them to participate in the democratic process. They will be making the choices about which projects get the money on the night - theirs are the voices that will matter.

"I hope that lots of Melksham's young people will seize this opportunity to have a say in making a real difference to issues that directly affect them - choosing how the council spends some of its money for young people."

A total of £100,000 has been made available for projects for young people by the cabinet of Wiltshire Council, after a conference last year highlighting the access and transport difficulties experienced by young people across the county. Almost £5,000 of this funding has been delegated to the Melksham Area Board for this purpose.

The event will be held at the start of the autumn term at the new Melksham Oak school. The area board is working closely with the school, youth services and extended schools to organise this exciting event which will take place from 7pm to 9pm on Wednesday September 8.  There will be a finger buffet and drinks served from 6.30pm.