Agenda and Minutes of the Leudal Municipal Youth Council Meeting | August 18, 2026

1. Opening and Welcome 

2. Announcements

   • Regular agenda item

3. New items for this meeting  

   • Regular agenda item

4. Follow-up from the previous meeting

   • Regular agenda item

5. Connection Between the Youth Council and the City Council 

   • A council member from Ronduit Open will Ronduit Open the meeting. She has a number of questions about the relationship between the youth council and the city council.

6. Member Recruitment

   • The current status of the recruitment of new members for the youth council will be discussed.

7. Parking Spaces

   • Pien provides feedback on the question that was asked about enforcement of parking violations.

8. Break

9. Street Lighting 

   • A new Public Space Policy Plan is being drafted, of which Public Lighting is a component. To this end, the following proposals are being submitted to the Youth Council:
     • Statement 1 – Parks, playgrounds, and walking trails must be well-lit in the evening, even if this affects plants, animals, and natural darkness.
     • Proposition 2 – In parks, nature reserves, rural areas, and bike paths, public lighting should be limited or turned off as much as possible, even if this makes some young people feel less safe.
     • Proposition 3 – The municipality should invest in smart lighting that automatically reports malfunctions, dims when no one is around, and brightens when people pass by.
     • Statement 4 – Good public lighting is one of the most important Requirements making young people feel safe when they ride their bikes home in the evening.
     • Proposition 5 – When deciding where to install new lighting, the municipality should first consider areas frequently used by young people, such as sports fields, gathering places, and routes to school.
     • Statement 6 - It is acceptable to dim streetlights in residential neighborhoods after midnight to save energy.

10. Road Safety Ursula Horn

    • On September 1, Ursula Horn, the traffic policy advisor, will join us for a discussion on the topic of traffic safety. In preparation for this meeting, you are encouraged to formulate your questions in advance so that they can be answered right away on September 1.

11. Annual Calendar

    • A draft annual calendar has been drawn up, listing topics on which municipal employees would like to seek advice from the Youth Council. The Youth Council is asked to add to this calendar as needed. 

12. Dates of upcoming meetings  

    • September 1, 2026
    • September 29, 2026
    • November 17, 2026 

13. Questions? 

    • Regular agenda item

1. Opening and Welcome

Everyone is welcomed

2. Announcements

The Youth Council was featured in *Hallo* with a photo. This will be distributed to all members.

At its meeting on July 7, 2026, the Youth Council issued a recommendation regarding a pump track. This recommendation will be discussed by the municipal executive in early September.

As decided at the meeting on July 7, 2026, the minutes will henceforth be published on the municipality’s website within two weeks. This was already done for the meeting on July 7, 2026. Therefore, the minutes no longer need to be approved during the meeting. Youth council members can now find them online if they wish to review the minutes.

3. New items for this meeting

Election of the Secretary

4. Review of the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on July 7, 2026, state that Pien was to look into the current status of the bike path betweenNeer , and Roggel. The current status is as follows: The final land acquisitions are now in the final stages.

Once these have been completed, implementation can begin.

5. Link between the Youth Council and the City Council

During the meeting, a council member from “ Ronduit Open ” joined us. She was eager to speak with young people and therefore joined the Youth Council. She had a number of questions about the relationship between the Youth Council and the City Council (the questions are in italics, followed by the Youth Council’s answers):

1. How do you view your role/responsibility on the youth council?

   You can join the conversation and share your thoughts on a topic. That’s appreciated. Since there aren’t many women in the group, they understand that they sometimes see things differently because they’re surrounded by men.

2. What do the preparations for a meeting look like? How much time do you spend on preparations, on average?

   Preparation doesn't take that much time. When they receive the agenda, they usually take a quick look at it right away. And if they want to look into something in more detail, they'll do that later. And on the day of the meeting itself, they always take a quick look at what's on the agenda.

   At each meeting, members can indicate whether they want to discuss new topics during that meeting or at the next one. However, not all topics are chosen by the youth council itself. Sometimes, for example, questions are asked by government officials. Or someone may come to speak on a particular topic.

   Sometimes members hear people talking about something, and then they bring that topic up at the meeting.

3. How do your peers react when you tell them you're on the youth council?

   Sometimes the members talk about the youth council at school. That’s how some of them ended up joining the youth council.

   Most of my peers think it's a little boring at first. But when you explain it to them, they get it right away.

4. In your opinion, how can youth participation be increased in the municipality of Leudal?

   You can involve young people through school, for example, through social studies teachers. That way, as a young person, you don’t necessarily have to go anywhere to provide input; instead, you can share your opinion during class, for example.

   It’s probably going to be difficult to get young people involved, because many of them won’t feel a strong need to do so. But often, the more you know about something, the more important you consider it to be. For example, could you perhaps bring certain issues to their attention without asking anything of them just yet?

5. Do you have any ideas on how the city council and the youth council can strengthen their connection even further? The evaluation dated July 7, 2026, states that you would like to meet the council members and that you recommend they attend a youth council meeting. Do you have any other ideas?

   From now on, add the following to the Youth Council’s agenda: a preview of the next council meeting.

   Perhaps if the Youth Council issues a recommendation, the City Council will be informed of it. Pien will look into this possibility further.

6. Do you feel that, as a young person, you have a say in the plans made by the municipality?

   Within the youth council, yes, but outside of it, no. So it’s also important to be on the youth council so you can have a say.

   Most young people have joined the youth council because they want to make their voices heard. 

   Most of them joined after seeing a flyer about it.

7. Do other people ever say they want to put something on the agenda for the youth council?

   Sometimes, the youth council members talk with their families about various topics.

8. Do you have any aspirations to serve on the city council?

   Some people do have ambitions, but not everyone.

6. Member Recruitment

Unfortunately, no one joined the youth council after the last recruitment drive. We discussed other ways to recruit members. The following ideas were discussed:

• Please include the Youth Council article that appeared in *Hallo* in the high school newsletter as well.
• Try to reproduce the poster on the bulletin board at school.
• Guest lessons in the classrooms. These should be interactive lessons that include, for example, statements about what the youth council has already discussed.
• Flyers and posters are up at school. This was also done last time. The youth council members are checking to see if more need to be put up.
• Handing out flyers in the mentor classes
• A special Instagram account for the youth council, where they can post something every month. Pien is going to look into whether this is possible.
• Banner in a bus shelter
• Making Stickers for the Youth Council
• Card games featuring the Youth Council logo, which can be handed out during recess.

7. Parking Spaces

The minutes of the meeting held on July 7, 2026, state that Pien would inquire about enforcement measures for illegal parking. The details are as follows:

According to Article 10, paragraph 1, of the Traffic Rules and Signs Regulations, cars are not permitted to park on sidewalks, with the exception of sidewalks where an E08-1 sign is posted (alternate-side parking). According to Article 10, paragraph 1, of the regulations, cars are also not permitted to use the bike path. An exemption may be granted for this purpose (for example, for the maintenance of road shoulders).

Violations of the above rules can be reported to law enforcement via the “Buiten Beter” app.

8. Election of a New Secretary

The current secretary has held this position for one year. According to the Youth Council regulations, new elections must be held after one year. The current secretary would also be eligible for re-election.

Nout has been re-elected as secretary. He will draft the recommendations, and Pien will continue to take the minutes.

9. Break

5-minute break

10. Streetlights

A new Public Space Policy Plan is being drafted, and public lighting is one of its components. To this end, the following statements are being presented to the Youth Council (the statements are in italics, followed by the Youth Council’s responses):

Statement 1 – Parks, playgrounds, and walking trails must be well-lit in the evening, even if this has an impact on plants, animals, and natural darkness.

Parks

In parks, some lighting is good for safety, but it doesn't have to be full lighting from streetlights. This also applies to people who, for example, need to walk their dog or still need to or want to walk through the park.

The lights do not need to be turned on until it gets dark (depending on the season) and should remain on until 11:00 a.m./12:00 a.m.

In addition, lighting is needed especially in the large parks.

However, some people believe that lighting in parks isn't necessary, because it encourages people to linger in the park longer, which can lead to more disturbances. And animals don't like the lighting.

Playgrounds

They want to prevent loitering by teenagers. The question, however, is whether lighting actually attracts loitering teenagers or not.

Playgrounds for children don't need to be lit anyway, because this age group doesn't play there in the evening anyway.

It’s only natural to turn off the lights at a playground once it gets dark. Keeping the lights on all the time uses a lot of energy for the handful of people who are still there.

If you live next to a playground, you probably don't want the lights to be on all the time. But if the decision is made to keep the lights on, they shouldn't cause any disturbance.

Hiking Trails

All members agree that you should leave the forest alone at night, and that it should be dark there. Many animals live there, and it needs to stay dark for their sake. They also don’t like it when there are lots of streetlights in the forest.

Proposition 2 – In parks, nature reserves, rural areas, and bike paths, public lighting should be limited or turned off as much as possible, even if this makes some young people feel less safe.

When it comes to parks, the members all agree that they don’t necessarily need to be lit. This is because you often don’t have to go through a park to get home; you can take a different route by bike. The youth council members do point out that they are all men, and that women might feel differently about this.

In nature reserves, the lights can be turned off, unless a public road or bike path runs through them. In that case, lighting is necessary to provide a sense of safety.

The members agree that the lights on bike paths should not be turned off. While your bike light does provide some illumination, you can’t really see much. You feel less at ease when it’s dark and you can’t see what’s ahead—especially if the bike path runs past few houses.

Ideally, the lights would stay on all night. Because if you have to bike home late, that’s exactly when you want the lights on. As far as feeling safe goes, it’s actually better if the area is lit at midnight rather than at 9:00 p.m.

Proposition 3 – The municipality should invest in smart lighting that automatically reports malfunctions, dims when no one is around, and shines brighter when people pass by.

It depends on how much it costs. If it saves money, then it's a good idea (because you won't need to leave the lights on as much).

The question is whether it is better for animals if the light is constantly turned on and off, or if it stays on continuously. Because if it is better for animals, it could be seen as an added benefit.

And people are wondering if it's annoying for those who live nearby to have the light constantly turning on and off.

According to the youth council, it would be best suited for a park or bike path.

The Youth Council believes that, especially in rural areas, there should be some form of lighting, and smart lighting would be a good solution. This is because it can save energy in those areas, since few people visit them and the lights would only need to be turned on occasionally.

The question is whether the smart lighting actually works properly—that is, whether it turns on in time—when cars are driving faster than the speed limit. This is because they often notice that people drive too fast on those roads, and they want the lighting there specifically for their safety when they’re biking, so that the car can see them and they can see the car.

Statement 4 – Good public lighting is one of the most importantRequirements for helping young people feel safe when they ride their bikes home in the evening.

Everyone here wholeheartedly agrees with this. It is considered the most important Requirements. They feel that there is currently not enough lighting in the right places.

This is especially important because people often drive very fast at night. That way, as a cyclist, you can see them coming more clearly, and they can see you. Could this aspect of safety also be improved in other ways, such as with speed cameras and speed bumps?

It's also important because it makes you feel safer on your bike—you can see what's happening ahead of you and whether there are people there.

And you feel like you're more likely to notice when something happens, and that you actually see what's happening yourself.

And suppose there's a pothole in the bike path—with the lighting, you can see it better, too.

According to the youth council, this primarily concerns roads that connect villages or key locations, where street lighting is needed. It does not apply to small rural roads, because very few people use them.

Proposition 5 – When deciding where to install new lighting, the municipality should first consider areas frequently used by young people, such as sports fields, gathering places, and routes to school.

Everyone agrees with the statement. However, they add that you should focus primarily on who cycles the most and who cycles the latest into the evening. And you should tailor your approach accordingly.

The Youth Council also adds that attention should be paid to the places where young people commonly work, since that is often where they start their late-night (after dark) bike rides home.

You can also see where there’s a lot of traffic, and installing lighting in those exact spots makes the situation safer

Along school routes, the streetlights should be turned on in the morning rather than very late in the evening. This, too, depends on the season.

If there’s a lamppost at a youth hangout, the question is whether the young people will want to keep meeting there or not. Perhaps the youth worker has an answer to this.

Statement 6 - "It is acceptable to dim streetlights in residential neighborhoods after midnight to save energy."

Most members say yes to dimming, but not to turning it off completely.

But when people have to go to work or school, you actually want the lights to be on—not dimmed—at those times in the morning.

Dim lighting is good because you can still see something, and it gives you a sense of security.

One of the members says that streetlights in residential neighborhoods can be turned off entirely. And that they should be turned on mainly in areas where people drive fast, which is often not the case in residential neighborhoods.

You may also sometimes be bothered by the light if you sleep in a residential neighborhood. But in that case, dimming the lights helps.

11. Traffic Safety Ursula Horn

On September 1, 2026, the traffic policy advisor will join a meeting on the topic of traffic safety with Sint Ursula Horn. In preparation for this meeting, questions have already been formulated so that they can be answered immediately on September 1:

• What will the traffic situation be like during the renovation? And how will safety be ensured, for example, with construction traffic?
• What will the traffic situation be like once the school is built?
• And how are they going to ensure that the situation remains safe at the new school?

12. Annual Calendar

A draft annual calendar has been prepared, listing topics on which municipal employees would like to seek advice from the Youth Council.

For the next meeting, Pien will find out what the status is of the soccer club merger and whether the youth council can contribute ideas.

Discuss recruiting new members again on September 1.

13. Dates of upcoming meetings

• September 1
• September 29, 2026
• November 17, 2026

A number of youth council members will be unable to attend on September 1. We are looking into whether the meeting can be rescheduled.

14. Questions?

There are no questions.