I APPLAUD efforts to involve young people in decisions that affect their lives, but I wish we would come up with new models of involvement.

Howard Lewis from the Yorkshire Rural Community Council said: "Youth councils are springing up all over Yorkshire and they usually consist of a group of young people who are representative of their communities" (Evening Press, October 6).

In my experience, the opposite is true - young people who get involved with youth councils are unrepresentative. The one per cent of young people who form this unrepresentative minority often go on to be councillors, ie: they continue to be an unrepresentative minority!

Youth councils have their place, but we need to find other ways of consulting and involving the majority of young people. This is achieved by fitting into their model rather than trying to fit young people into ours.

If Hugh Bayley is going to get involved in this particular issue, I would suggest that he talk to his fellow ministers and reduce the age at which young people can become councillors.

And we should all be looking at ways of reducing the average age of councillors so more of them are young people themselves or have children aged under 16.

Last but not least, why is the emphasis on young people taking "an interest in politics"? I carried out some research once among young people. They wanted to have more say over matters affecting their lives but they did not want to get involved with the council or politicians or political parties.

Paul Vittles,

Church Farm Close,

Rufforth, York.