The role of youth mayor could be created for part of Kent at a cost of £35,000 a year - plus nearly £2,000 for a ceremonial outfit - in an initiative called “madness” by a charity.

Medway Council’s cabinet is to consider the plan which it says would encourage primary school children to engage with politics through the election of a Year 6 child to be Medway’s young mayor.

Similar schemes exist elsewhere in the country, although existing young mayors tend to be teenagers, rather than 11 year olds.

The council hopes the act of voting and the role of young mayor will inspire children in the Towns to get involved in politics and their local communities.

If agreed, it would involve hiring an engagement officer at £33,000 per year, plus spending of £2,000 for marketing, travel and subsistence.

Additionally, £1,790 would be spent on a one-off purchase of mayoral robes, a collar and a hat for the young mayor, as well as a £900 on medals for the young mayor and two for deputies.

The cabinet will consider methods of funding the scheme - with officers recommending the council seeks outside sources rather than paying for the initiative itself.

No details were given of where this outside funding would come from, however the council believes it would be able to find a source.

Children would be able to put themselves forward while in Year 5 and then there would be an election where one young mayor and seven deputy young mayors would be chosen.

This would be in addition to the existing Medway Youth Council, which is open to secondary school pupils, and the two Youth Parliament members.

The young mayor is a non-political role and would take part in major events for Medway.

The council believes it has a deficit of democratic opportunities for primary school children and the report says the initiative would “empower children/young people and amplify their voices”.

But Neil Charlick, chief executive of Gillingham Street Angels, a charity which offers a range of services including food banks and free school uniforms for people in need in the Towns, said he could “not make sense” of the move when there were greater problems for children in Medway.

He said: “With the many problems facing children in Medway at the moment, it doesn’t make sense to me to be putting money towards this.

“What on earth can a young mayor seriously do for children whose parents can’t afford to feed them or clothe them properly?

“We see hundreds of people, including young kids, queuing up at our food banks because they’re in such dire straits, and we give out thousands of items of free school uniform because people are so stretched they can’t afford them.

“Seriously, when there’s so much need at the moment - the country hasn’t recovered from Covid really, people are still struggling - to be looking at putting in a young mayor at £35,000 is just madness.

“Medway has a really active voluntary sector, doing so much good work, why not give money like that to them instead?”

Leader of the Medway Conservatives Cllr George Perfect, who was chair of Medway’s Youth Council while at school, supports the move, saying it will give young people more opportunities to engage with their community.

He said: “As a former chairman of the Medway Youth Council and someone passionate about giving our children and young people a voice, I fully support the young mayor initiative.

“This project will give junior school aged children the opportunity to engage with civic life and further build on the council's Child Friendly Medway programme set up by the previous administration.

“The cabinet is right that due to budgetary challenges facing the council, alternative external funding is sought first to support this initiative".

The initiative will be considered and voted on at the council’s cabinet meeting on December 17.