Young people have been issued an open invitation to town hall meetings.

It follows a call by Jeff Trail, of Brixington and Bystock Action Group, to appoint two young people to sit in on full town council meetings.

Although that suggestion was knocked back by councillors at the regeneration committee meeting on Monday, an open invitation was issued instead.

The invitation has been extended to include the main finance, planning and general purposes committees.

Meetings between young people and councillors are also set to be arranged to discuss their ideas.

Fifteen minutes will be set aside at the start of every meeting to enable young people to ask questions or make a point.

The subject matter will be confined to items on the published agendas of each committee, with more general points able to get an airing at the monthly, full council meetings.

Cllr Pauline Stott, chairman of the regeneration committee, said she could not see the point of ‘co-opting’ people onto the council.

“There is already a youth parliament and a school council at the community college,” she said. “Anybody is welcome to come to any of our meetings.”

Deputy mayor John Humphreys said: “Young people are our future. They should not be ignored and we should welcome them with open arms.”