News Council ask young people how safe they feel in Maidstone
Young people aged 11 to 18 years are being asked to take part in a survey to find out how safe they feel in the borough of Maidstone.
The Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) Voice of Young Maidstone Safety Survey 2024 invites young people to reflect on their feelings of safety at home, at school, and within their local community.
Additionally, it explores their online safety, experiences with crime, and both their own and their friends’ risk-taking behaviours. The survey is anonymized, enabling the council to identify trends across schools, year groups, and communities.
Cllr Dave Naghi, Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion and Safety said:
“We are calling on all parents, guardians, schools and groups to encourage the borough’s young people to tell us how safe they feel. We will share these findings with professionals, schools, and parents early next year.“It is crucial to understand how our young people feel when they are out in Maidstone. The results will help us understand any concerns and guide us in making Maidstone an even safer place for all and will contribute towards our next Community Safety Plan as we want everyone to feel safer in Maidstone including our young people.”
As an incentive to the young people of Maidstone, all completed surveys will be entered into a prize draw and 20 young people will each win £50 of shopping vouchers.
Schools can also receive a cash prize for encouraging students to take part. Prizes will be awarded to primary and secondary schools with the highest completion rates. The highest percentage school in either Primary or Secondary will receive £500, the second highest will receive £200.
The survey closes on 8 December and prizes will be awarded in January 2025. It should take around 15 minutes to complete, the survey can be found on the Lets Talk Maidstone of the MBC website here: https://letstalkmaidstone.uk.engagementhq.com/young-persons-community-safety-survey-2024
Community safety in Maidstone is a shared responsibility across many organisations. The Community Safety Partnership ‘Safer Maidstone’ is dedicated to implementing and delivering initiatives that help keep Maidstone a safe place to live, work, learn, and visit.
For further information please contact the MBC Community Protection Team by emailing: communityprotection@maidstone.gov.uk using the subject line ‘Voice of Young Maidstone.’