I would work out who or what organisation should be informed about the young person’s good idea and contact them to arrange a meeting to discuss the idea and how it might be implemented (some years ago I helped a group of young people work with the council to get a skateboard park)

First of all I’d decide who would be able to help develop the idea. I’d then arrange a meeting with the appropriate people and help the young person convince them that this was an idea worth supporting. The local Area Committee could also be approached as the Councillors on the committee are always keen to hear about local initiatives. Wigtown Area Committee has an agreed set of priorities, one of which is young people, so if the idea needed funding, an application could be submitted to them. Sometimes good ideas take time to develop so a lot of patience and determination are needed and I’ve got both!

That could be a range of things depending on what the good idea is. Examples could be:

Putting an appropriate motion before a council committee to gain support and funds to progress the idea, lobbying our MSP to get the idea debated at the Scottish Parliament, issue a press release in support and to raise public awareness, ask my group on the council for their support for the idea, personally lobby for cross party support, ask all the community councils in my ward for their endorsement and active support, help the person with the idea to get a grant from the Area Committee and/or from one or more of the local trusts.

This will end up being a very long list if I don’t stop now, but I hope I have given you enough of an idea of the sort of things that a councillor can do to promote a good idea

I’d stop and think: how can we hitch this great idea up to the current priorities of the council?

Money is tight, so to get things to happen, I would speak to fellow councillors to gather support to work together.

You and I would also lobby the Youth Strategy Executive Group to see if they would help.

What happened to the other wing?