A NEW survey launches aiming to get young people’s voices heard.

Speak Out Swindon is the first step in creating a space where young people can share their ideas, gain skills and experience, and help to make Swindon a better place for everyone.

Thirty youth organisations from around the town have been working for months to see what might be possible - with the launch of Speak Out Swindon, the group wants to find out what young people would really find most useful.

“We’ve had lots of ideas - but most important is finding out what kind of group young people in Swindon would like to have,” said Jodie Bullock from Swindon and Gloucester Mind, one of the organisations involved in setting up the project.

The survey is available online as well as in a printed version, and hundreds of responses are expected.

Feedback and ideas from the survey will help shape the new group - how it will work and what kind of things it offers.

Elizabeth Postgate director at Inner Flame, another of the organisations involved in setting up the new groups said: “Lockdowns and the pandemic have affected young people really badly.

“The most important thing now is to make sure we listen to young people - and give them to chance to have their voices heard. Only then can we start to really make a difference” she added.

The new survey is being launched on May 3 and will be online for a few weeks - there are just five questions for young people to answer before May 25 when the survey will be analysed.

“This is a great chance to give young people a real voice and to make a real difference” said Fidelma Meehan from Swindon’s Baha’i community. “What could be a better way to move on from the difficulties of the last few months?”

The online survey is at http://vas-swindon.org/sos or you can download a survey to print out at http://vas-swindon.org/sos-print.