Knife crime, safety and opportunities for young people were hot topics when school children got the chance to grill police and council representatives on Tuesday.

The second annual Croydon Youth Congress saw hundreds aged 10-18 from across the borough gather at Trinity Baptist Church in Pealle Road.

In the afternoon the young people from 25 schools and organisations including the cadets asked questions in a panel discussion.

Knife crime and stop and searches was the first topic tackled by Croydon Superintendent Craig Knight.

He said: “Knife crime is coming down in Croydon because of people like you working together to do something about what is a really serious issue affecting young people.

“I’ve been at crime scenes standing over young people who have been stabbed – I don’t want it for anyone.”

He asked the room of about 200 people how many had considered carrying a knife with a handful of people raising their hands.

But when Supt Knight asked whether they were fearful of knife crime or fearful of being attacked walking home, most hands in the hall went up.

To reassure the group he said: “The amount of people being injured from knife crime is falling and Croydon is one of the few boroughs in London where knife crime is falling.”

One girl asked how the police can carry out stop and searches without stereotyping people.

Supt Knight said stop and searches tend to be carried out on people matching the description of a victim or suspect of a crime.

He added: “That doesn’t mean we just stop black people, white people or blue people. We need to get away from this myth.”

Another young person asked Cllr Hamida Ali what was being done to make high streets safer for children walking home alone.

They said: “You’ve invested millions into Legacy (youth centre) and Fairfield Halls but what are you going to do to high streets like Thornton Heath? Because lately, drug dealing and knife crime have been happening.

“How can you make it better for young people who are walking home by themselves?”

Cllr Ali, cabinet member for safer Croydon and communities said all high streets are suffering with more people shopping online instead of visiting traditional shops.

She said: “What we are hearing is that people hate seeing a lot of empty shops and maybe because we are not shopping how we used to, we need to see something different in these shops.

“We’re working really hard in all these areas to make sure we are investing in all our town centres.”

On opportunities for all young people to succeed, questions ranged from how many jobs are available at the council and whether it employs ex-offenders to why the only job for under 14s is a paper round.

On education, one asked: “You know when children get an education when they have disabilities, how would you help them to work at the same level as the other children?”

Answering the question David Butler, direction of education and youth engagement at the council, said he thinks all children with disabilities should be welcome in all schools in the borough.

“I think they should have the same opportunity to learn and grow with other young people of their age,” he said.

“It is my job to make sure the adults in your schools have the skills to help children of all abilities.”

The panel wasn’t just made up of adults – representatives from the younger generation included Croydon’s young mayor William Awomoyi and deputy young mayor Shea Williams.

In response to a question on hate crime, Shea said: “The main thing that should be done is understand why people commit hate crimes.

“London is a very diverse community we should let everybody understand each and every culture.”

And it wouldn’t be a public Croydon Council event without at least one question about the borough’s new bins.

The final question of the day was from one youngster who said: “There were these huge wheelie bins and a lot of people complaining about it so some got removed. What was it all about?”

Croydon chief executive Jo Negrini answered by asking: “Do you guys think recycling is important?”

She added:  “That is why we’re doing it. The idea is we are taking your little boxes away and giving you the big bin. But for a little while you had a lot of bins at the same time.”

Speaking after the event, Croyon’s cabinet member for children and young people Cllr Alisa Flemming said issues raised by the young people will be taken on board by the council.

She said: “After last year, it shaped the priorities for the council including providing additional support for care leavers.

“Today drills down into what young people’s priorities are.

“We have to be ambitious for them in more than just words.”