It’s hoped a proposed new youth council will launch in South Holland in September amid fears re-organisation could impact young people participating in local government.
The youth council has been mooted since Spalding Grammar School pupils attended a meeting of Spalding Town Forum last year.
Coun Nick Worth told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that work on creating it is progressing.
“We can get someone from Spalding College, but often they attend for two or three meetings and then they’ve left school,” said Coun Worth. “We’re working with the democratic services team to engage with the grammar school and other secondary schools to see if we can get two or three people from each school and ensure a regular turnover of members.”
The leader said he hoped the youth council would “really challenge” the authority on its decisions, similar to how a scrutiny committee operates.
He added that its members could “look at things differently,” particularly with a “fresh pair of eyes”.
Coun Worth says he’s ‘concerned’ that local reorganisation, which will see unitary authorities created to take on the jobs of both his district council and Lincolnshire County Council, could discourage more young people from engaging in local politics.
“You have got to assume the new unitary will be quite large and most of the meetings will be during the day, which cuts out anyone who has a full-time job,” he continued. “When you start a new administration, you can immediately take half the people out because they’re working or because they have other things to do.
“Inevitably, in a new unitary, a lot of the work happens during the day and that is a big stumbling block for people.”
Coun Ashley Baxter, Independent leader of South Kesteven District Council, explained that those who tend to get involved in local politics are often retired.
“When you look around council chambers across the country, most people are older than me,” he said. “If democracy is to be representative, it needs to include people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
“Currently, most councillors in Lincolnshire are male, pale, frail and stale.”
He pointed out that the new Reform UK-led Lincolnshire County Council is roughly 85 per cent male, although these figures are believed to be better at district level, where around one-third of councillors in South Kesteven are women.
“Being a councillor is unfair to people who have a 9-5 job,” he added. “If you have a job and a young family, it is very difficult to find the hours to be a councillor.”
However, with the new unitary authorities expected to have fewer councillors representing larger numbers of residents, he expects workloads to become even heavier.
“Each councillor is going to be overwhelmed. It’s already difficult to keep on top of; it’s going to get more difficult after reorganisation and that is going to put people who have families and people who have traditional jobs off.”
