YOUNG people could soon have their voices heard in Bradford on Avon as the first steps are taken to form a youth council.

Different youth groups and individuals gathered at St Margaret's Hall last Wednesday to discuss the best way forward for young people in the town. Bradford mayor Peter Leach is behind the idea. He said: "It was my pet project. I started it purely and simply because I believe there is an age gap between elected officials and the youth of the community.

"The young people deserve to be listened to especially when the elected officials are responsible for providing youth services.

"I'm trying to get together a youth council who can be responsible for their own decisions. The idea is to create a small budget to help some projects along.

"I have no preconceived ideas about how it's going to work because the idea is to listen to the young people to see what they want to do."

At the end of the meeting there was a screening of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit provided by the town's Film Society.

Cllr Leach said: "What we didn't want to do was make it like a town council meeting because, no offence, but they would have probably left after five minutes. "The film society doesn't have a younger section even though the facilities are there and there is no reason why there shouldn't be one."

Wednesday's event was sponsored by Bradford on Avon Town Council and the Rotary Club.