Thirty five local organisations, from leisure centres to charities and independent clubs, have been awarded the City Council’s Youth Provision Safe Practice Mark in its first two years, with more in the pipeline.
Milton Keynes City Council launched the scheme in 2023 to recognise and promote good practice in youth clubs and activity groups across the city.
The Safe Practice Mark is awarded to organisations that can demonstrate that appropriate safety and safeguarding measures are in place. This will help parents and carers to make informed decisions about local clubs for children and young people.
Organisations wishing to gain the Safe Practice Mark need to fill out an online application which is reviewed by a specialist panel. Successful clubs gain access to free training and the opportunity to apply for funding. Clubs must re-apply annually to continue using the mark.
The city council also leads a Youth Provision Forum where organisations from across the city meet to share good practice and work together to ensure high quality services for young people.
Self-driving shuttle trials extended
Self-driving shuttles will be tested in more parts of the city centre thanks to new funding from Innovate UK, part of the Department for Transport.
The trial of autonomous shuttles will be extended to run between the train station and Hotel La Tour. The extended area will allow researchers more space to understand how the shuttles can safely navigate in an urban area and will test how well the service works in different traffic conditions.
The StreetCAV Plus trials will allow safe testing of the technology that will eventually lead to the removal of drivers from self-driving vehicles on UK roads. The vehicles will be monitored from a new city centre control room.
The StreetCAV Plus project is led by the city council and local company Smart City Consultancy, along with several other partners. Mapping work started earlier this year to prepare for the shuttle routes.
The trial is expected to launch in the coming months, with fully accessible, self-driving vehicles carrying up to eight passengers around the city centre, stopping at multiple pick-up and drop-off points.
The shuttles are built by Ohmio, a New Zealand company that has set up its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes. The vehicles are designed to drive safely at low speeds (under 15mph) in busy areas.
The project has already created around 15 high-tech jobs locally and several recent graduates from Cranfield University have joined the team.
Contact Milton Keynes City Council If you run a club or provide activities for young people and want to find out more about the Youth Provision Safe Practice Mark, email YPSafePractice@milton-keynes.gov.uk
Marland
Leader
Milton Keynes
City Council
