Know Your Place

Young People Leading The Change in Staffordshire

What is the ‘Know Your Place’ Project?

‘Know Your Place’ is a 5 year project that is building a community research network of young people in Staffordshire. It focuses on giving young people the platform, tools and power to create meaningful change in their communities.

It is led by Staffordshire Council of Voluntary Youth Services (SCVYS), in partnership with the University of Staffordshire, Staffordshire County Council and the Young People’s Steering Group (YPSFG), and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Community Research Networks Fund.

It isn’t your typical research project, Know Your Place is powered by Participatory Action Research (PAR) which means:

Young people aren’t just participants. They are the leaders.
Young people will help decide what’s researched, how it’s done, and what changes to lobby for.

What does the Town Council plan to do?

Biddulph Town Council successfully bid for a grant from the Know Your Place project to work with them to become an ‘Innovator Organisation’.

The other 9 Innovator Organisations are:

BLAST – Lichfield
Breathing Space – South Staffordshire
Burton Youth for Christ – East Staffordshire
Crystal Academy – Cannock Chase
Liberty Jamboree – Lichfield
Re-Solv – Stafford
Tamworth Boxing Club – Tamworth
Virtual School and Voice Project – Countrywide
Vysions Youth Services – Cannock Chase

We’re working to deliver 2 projects:

Understand Your Place Consultation: We wish to engage with our young people (aged 11+) and gather their insights: get them involved in some activities and answer questions about what it is like to be a young person growing up in Staffordshire. We want to understand what concerns they have and what they’d like to change.

We’ll be asking questions such as:

What could make a place feel like it belongs to everyone, including young people?
How do you want Biddulph to be for future generations of young people?
What things do you think young people should have a greater say on in Staffordshire?
What would a safe and inclusive community look like for you?

Change Your Place Social Action Project: We’ll then analyse the research data, and design and implement a social action project in 2026 that helps to create some of the changes young people want to see in the area. This will be delivered in partnership with young people.

Data Protection

We will comply with all applicable data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

We will process personal data only as necessary for the delivery of the project.

Safeguarding

We shall ensure that all activities undertaken as part of the project are conducted in full compliance of the council’s Safeguarding Policy.

Here’s links to the projects information and consent or opt out forms:

Change Your Place Action Plan

Councillors were provided with a project update in the Town and Community Committee meeting on the 17 March 2026. Here’s a link to an action plan for next phase of the project – Change Your Place: Action Plan

World Cafe

A ‘World Cafe’ took place on the 30 June 2026, a partnership initiative between Biddulph Town Council and the Police. Its purpose was to create positive outcomes and strengthen community relationships, rather than focus on incidents of anti-social behaviour. The groups answered questions and actively engaged with the young people.

Know Your Place Festival

On the 8 September 2026, the Chief Officer and Events and Partnerships Officer were delighted to attend the Know Your Place Festival at Staffordshire University, celebrating the fantastic work that has taken place across Staffordshire — and especially here in Biddulph.

We feel incredibly lucky that Biddulph Town Council was one of the innovators chosen to be part of this amazing project.

Over the course of the project, we have had the opportunity to engage with hundreds of young people in our town. We have listened to their experiences, their concerns, their hopes and, most importantly, their ideas for making Biddulph an even better place to live.

The young people we have spoken to are engaged with their community, passionate about where they live and full of brilliant ideas. They care about their town and want to play a part in shaping its future.

The project has given us a fantastic opportunity to listen to young people in a different way — not simply asking them what they think, but giving them the opportunity to lead conversations and influence change.

And this is just the beginning…

We are really excited to take what we have learned forward and work towards establishing a new Youth Council for Biddulph, working in partnership with Biddulph High School and Sixth Form, giving young people a lasting voice in our town and a way to share their ideas, influence decisions and help shape the future of their community.

A huge thank you to all the young people who have taken part so far, and to everyone who has supported the Know Your Place project. It has genuinely been such a lovely project to be involved with, and we can’t wait to see where it takes us next.