We need to get more young people interested in becoming councillors

One thing I wanted to achieve when becoming a councillor was to make Lewes District Council more appealing to a younger generation.

There is a feeling that councillors are really out of step with the younger generation and that their thinking is very different.

Since being a councillor I have to agree with a younger generation that being a councillor is geared towards a retired age group, and we have to break this way.

I am fortunate in that currently my wife earns enough so I can stay home to look after our children (she is far more clever than I am), but I am also thinking that my youngest starts school next year and I would like to start working. I am realising that being a hands on councillor will be become increasingly difficult.

For example Cabinet will meet at 2.30pm on a weekday afternoon, Audit and Standards at 10am, Licensing 10am sub committees 10am, Full Council 5pm, Scrutiny 2pm.

In fact only one committee meeting is outside working hours and that is Planning at 6pm and pre-planning is at 9am in the morning on a Monday, currently planning has moved to 10am in the morning and will be digital on the advice of the chair.

All the training for the first two and three months from when you’re elected is in the daytime and all take a number of hours.

When talking to other councils, many were surprised as they did theirs in the evening.

I honestly believe that the whole council needs to sit down and have a proper debate on how we can make the council more appealing to a younger generation and how can we get younger people engaged in politics.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak I approached the Chief Executive and Councillor Denis as I would like to see a youth council 
set up within the Lewes District.

Right now the council is not geared towards those of a younger generation, and it’s actively something we have to address.