PUPILS from The Petersfield School are preparing a campaign for more youth facilities in the town.

Three groups of teenagers from the school will be making presentations to East Hampshire district councillors at their central area community committee next week.

They will be asking for goal posts on open space at Bramble Close, off Durford Road in Petersfield, and for the reinstatement of the under-18s nights at Vertigo nightclub. A third group will address councillors on the problems of the "negative image" of young people in the community.

Jen Anderson, community manager for the south area, told The Herald: "The group is anxious to address the negative image of young people in the press and talk about ways of improving their relationships with older people in the community."

The presentations are a result of EHDC's citizenship education programme, which took place at TPS last term.

"We have been teaching the pupils about democracy and the democratic process," said Ms Anderson.

"We have also been listening to their views in terms of local issues and teaching them how to campaign and lobby for change, and other ways they could go about achieving their goals."

She said one of the ways of raising awareness of the priorities of young people was to speak to their district councillors.

The three groups from the new year 11 at TPS have chosen to take up this option and present their cases to the committee next Tuesday evening in the council chamber at Penns Place.

The request for two sets of goalposts on open space at Bramble Close could be a contentious issue. In the past there were complaints from local residents when the area was used by young people for this type of recreation.

Under-18s non-alcoholic nights at Vertigo were popular with young people in the town. But the events were discontinued some time ago, and now teenagers are anxious to have them reinstated.

Young people in the Petersfield area have been calling for improved relationships with the police in the town for more than a year.

The findings of a survey of 15 and 16-year-olds who took part in the citizenship programme at TPS last year showed that many had commented on the poor relationships, and felt teenagers were often viewed with suspicion.