Councillors in 'speed-dating' at Accrington And Rossendale College (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Councillors in 'speed-dating' at Accrington And Rossendale College

11:09am Wednesday 8th October 2008 in

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STUDENTS are to be paired up with borough councillors in a ‘speed dating’ event.

The speed dating event with Accrington And Rossendale students will give each student three minutes to quiz each councillor, before moving onto the next to raise awareness of local politics.

The college students will be able to ask their councillor ‘partner’ anything except age, party affiliation or address.

At the end of the evening, the college students will get to vote ‘who’s hot and who’s not’ based upon their answers.

The evening with councillors from Hyndburn Borough Council has been arranged as part of Local Democracy Week, which runs from October 13-19.

It is part of a number of events aimed at getting young people more involved with, and more aware of, their local council. Like conventional speed dating the session consists of a series of three minute ‘dates’.

Each councillor will receive a score on qualities such as approachability, listening skills and the ability to understand the issues presented to them will be scored with a simple ‘hot’ or ‘not' on a voting card.

Coun Peter Britcliffe, council leader, said “At the moment, most young people don’t see local politics as a dominant force in their daily lives.

“Political speed dating is a fun and light-hearted way for them to interact with local councillors, and get them involved in the democratic process.”