Bolton’s young people were placed at the heart of the borough’s vision for the future at the town’s annual Vision Conference held in the Albert Halls.
Youth MPs Jonathan Wright and Jaya Patel addressed hundreds of leaders from the business, education, health, voluntary and community sectors at the 20th Bolton Vision Conference (January 29).
The town held its first Youth Vision Conference last October and Jonathan and Jaya reflected on the success of the day.
They also talked about the important role that young people had to play in the strategy for Bolton 2030 and presented a video with their hopes for the future of the town.
Acting Leader of Bolton Council, Cllr Linda Thomas, said: “The youth council are a great example to their community and the energy and ideas they brought to the day was just fantastic.
“On the day we launched an app which will help organisations connect together better and there were almost 90 offers of help and requests. This is something we will keep going to ensure our town works together better.”
Chair of Bolton Vision, Dave Singleton, reflected on 2017 and pointed to progress across the borough.
He spoke about key developments such as the new £48 million transport interchange, the multi-million Market Place Shopping Centre revamp, Logistics North and the £1bn masterplan to transform the town centre.
Mr Singleton also pointed to other successes including the launch of the physical activity strategy at the Sport on the Square event, the Get Companies Active business triathlon, the work of the Green Umbrella and the crowd funding Pitch and Pitta event to support the voluntary sector.
He added: “The conference was a huge success and buzzing with ideas from everyone that was there.
“We showcased some great work that has taken place already and we talked about how we can all become more connected to benefit our residents.
“We are now going to continue on the work we started today so organisations communicate better.
“We also want to thank Greenhalgh’s for helping us celebrate our 20th milestone by providing a cake for the event.”
The new chief executive of Bolton Council, Tony Oakman, said he was delighted to be working in Bolton.
He said: “Bolton was a place I wanted to come to and I already feel like part of the Bolton family. It is the people in this town that make it such a special place and we need to be positive about the borough’s strengths.
“Team Bolton is the key to success and I want us all to work together to bring prosperity for all of our town.”