This toolkit was developed by Community21 (The University of Brighton and Action in Rural Sussex) in collaboration with young people to counteract issues of youth apathy and disengagement with local community design and planning. This is to ensure they are able to take advantage of new opportunities afforded by the localism agenda and planning legislation supporting 'bottom-up' community initiatives.

The video above introduces the issues and was used to win funding from the Nominet Trust - 'Digital Edge' programme which enabled the research and development.

The tools and methods are made available for reference as a result of the project for communities who wish to consult young people in decision making in ways that are both productive and engaging.

Community21 would like to thank all of the children involved in the project. Equally all the staff and students at the University of Brighton and youth engagement and community planning teams at Action in Rural Sussex and to Stephen Pipe for his contribution to helping us film and disseminate our findings.

For more information contact: Nick Gant (University of Brighton) n.a.gant@brighton.ac.uk Teresa Gittins (Action in Rural Sussex) Teresa.Gittins@ruralsussex.org.uk