Issues facing Bolton's young people were put to the town's first citizen.

A delegation of pupils from across Bolton visited Bolton Town Hall to address the Mayor.

Children from Gaskell Community Primary School, Clarendon Primary School, Leverhulme Primary School, Devonshire Road Primary School and Heathfield Primary School presented to the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Mohammed Ayub, on issues that affect their lives.

The project arose from schools looking at Global Issues using the United Nations Global Goals, which are 17 goals for Sustainable Growth across the world.

The schools started small, asking for support to tackle the issues in Bolton.

Pupils from Leverhulme celebrated diversity and culture in the school and asked the council to keep supporting and promoting the diversity in the town.

Heathfield School pupils talked about the litter that blights their school environment and would like the council to set up more support for litter issues.

They were supported by Clarendon, who talked about the littering in Bobby Heywood Park, next to their school.

They said how not only could they 'not enjoy the park', which is 'constantly littered', but that there is a problem with rat infestations due to the littering.

Paul Naylor, lead practitioner for inclusion and pupil welfare at Gaskell, said: "Gaskell pupils spoke in detail about under-age vaping in Bolton.

"They talked about the issues of health and the anti-social problems of behaviour and littering linked to vaping."

Devonshire Road Primary School pupils spoke to the Mayor about tackling the issue of responsible consumption, and were worried about the amount of waste food they see each day.

Mr Naylor added: "The Mayor was very impressed with the pupils' presentations and agreed that the children should be holding the council to task if these issues were not tackled in the next few years." 

Bolton Town Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, with King Charles III having visited the town earlier this year to celebrate the milestone. 

The visit came 150 years after The King’s great-great-grandfather, the future King Edward VII, officially opened Bolton Town Hall in 1873.