News from Bolton at Home
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Community unites to discuss voter apathy
We brought together local residents, business owners and political figures in a live-filmed debate to understand the reasons why more than a third of people in Bolton did not vote in the last general election.
Around 40 members of the community attended our ‘Who Cares?’ event at Bolton Market’s Lifestyle Hall to share their views and discuss why they should cast their votes in May.
We held the event to encourage and give local people a platform to discuss the issues that affect them.
We worked in partnership with Bolton FM and Johnson Fold Community Radio, who both presented and recorded the event, and Bolton Market.
Amy Lythgoe, our Digital Marketing Manager, said: “Bringing together people from the community to discuss the issues that affect them in a public forum is something Bolton at Home is keen to support.
“People have a lot of opinions about politics but are sometimes still reluctant to vote and we hope this event has gone some way towards engaging people with the political process.
“We hope that this event will allow the wider community to start conversations about issues that are important to them.
“We currently have a few projects around community media and are working with local residents to develop more platforms for people to be able to share their views.”
Edwin Pink, who produced the project, added: “The event was a great success. This was about debating the fundamental issues people have with engaging with politics, and I think we achieved that.
“I speak to a lot of people who care about and are very active in their local community and across Bolton but have no interest in national politics, so this debate was about why there is such a gap.”
Adam Slater, Johnson Fold Community Radio Chairman and producer on the broadcast said: “Incredible events can unfold when such a range of people and opinions meet in the same room. The live debate successfully demonstrated just how valuable it is for the everyday man or woman to speak up and be counted.”
The debate is available to watch. Click here.