The Chairman of the Ross-on-Wye Youth Town Council has written a report blaming the organisation's lack of success on Ross Town Council. Beth Bushell's report says that the idea of introducing young people to discuss the issues in the town was "excellent", however when put into practice "it was unsuccessful mainly due to a lack of support from the Full Council".

The report was delivered to Ross Town Council at their full meeting, on Monday, by the Town Clerk Denise Mason.

Beth Bushell cited the mix of ages amongst Youth Councillors, support from the town, contributions to the skate park refurbishment and productive meetings as areas where the Youth Council has performed well.

However, her criticisms were far more wide ranging.

The report says: "There was only support from the Town Council for the first two months, then we were sort of left to stand on our own two feet prematurely.

"The similar meeting structure to the Town Council was considered to be very formal.

"As the members of the Youth Council are young, when approaching organisations such as the Halo Swimming Pools or Herefordshire Council we were often not taken as seriously as someone much older would be."

The report also highlights the problems the Youth Council has had in maintaining attendance levels due to factors related to the councillors' education.

The report concludes:?"If the Youth Council is continued, I hope it will be much more successful and will receive more support from Full Council." In response, Councillor Andrew Atkinson said he supported Beth Bushell's report.

Cllr Atkinson said:?"It's important we discuss how we can get things back on track. A lot of good can come from it. We should steer the Youth Council towards projects where they can achieve quick wins. It's clear that a structure which is too formal doesn't work for them."

Councillor David Ravenscroft suggested that the Town Council could provide training to facilitate better organisation of the Youth Council, however Councillor Craig Morgan, who had been involved in a previous incarnation of the Youth Council, said this would only feed into the formalities which had proved unpopular.

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.