I have been passed some very interesting information about the age structure of NPT Council as at midway through 2016. I am very grateful to the person who sent it to me. Much appreciated.
One of the problems for bodies like councils, magistrates, police and other public organisations is for their membership to reflect the make up of those whom they represent. So we hear criticism that, for instance, magistrates are over-represented by white, middle aged or older, middle class men. Sometimes we see attempts for positive discrimination to try and address such criticism. For example, in politics, all women selection lists such as we saw in Neath from the Labour Party at the last General Election.
But let's keep this brief and get on to the figures. There are 64 councillors in NPT. This is how the age grouping pans out (as I've said based on mid-2016 figures):
Aged under 40 = 8
Aged 40 to 65 = 25
Aged 65 and over = 31
Those who are 75 or older = 11 out of the 64
So only 12.5% were under 40. Or just 1 in 8.
And 39.1% are between 40 and 65. That's 2 in 5.
And 48.4% are over 65.
So about half the council are over 65.
Yet the 2011 census showed that in NPT just under 19% of the population were 65 plus
But 17.2% of the council, 1 in 6, are over 75
The 2011 census revealed just 8.6% of NPT's population were over 75
Just as a comparison for you, the House of Lords is regarded by some (i.e. me!) as a club primarily for free-wheeling, old tossers. I can tell you that statistics on the age profile of that "Other Place", produced in March 2016, revealed 16.8% of members were over 80. These are startlingly similar figures as for our own Council and should make everyone concerned sit up. Those that are still able to, anyway.
I have no evidence but I suspect that this predominance of the very elderly is probably happening in other councils.
I'm not suggesting cut-offs at 65, which is the age that men presently become Old Age Pensioners and women have been pensioners for several years. In fact, I'm not going to postulate an age myself but leave it to others to ponder. I've seen many more Springs in my own life than I'll see in the future and know that older people have a wealth of experience and knowledge they can bring to the table. But this really top-heavy weighting towards people who are elderly, very elderly in some cases, is not good for encouraging youth into local politics, surely? Should our local politics be dominated by Dead Men's (and Dead Women's) Shoes? Isn't it time to consider an age limit for councillors? I know this will be controversial but in the interests of trying to redress things like age imbalance and getting young people involved, surely positive steps are necessary? The old geezers can then spend their time reminiscing about what a crap job the "youngsters" are doing, which is the normal progression in life. Where on earth do you think the expression "grumpy old men" came from?
Councillors are always telling us the job involves tough decision making and difficult choices. Every responsible job requires that but would you want your GP to be 80, your dentist 85, your builder asking to use your toilet 10 times a day and leaving a mess on the floor because he never made it half the time? Do we really want to see our town halls continue to resemble the House of Lords with those ghastly, walking cadavers adorning the benches?
Remember the film about the guy who was born really old yet grew younger, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, (photo left). Well that doesn't happen in real life. Truth is, we grow more decrepit as the years go by - each and every one of us, without exception. It's the natural order of things. And I tell you what - some of the councillors I see in the Rogues' Gallery of councillors on that useless website of NPT's would give old Benjamin a good run for his money in the geriatric stakes.
Go to the minutes of the annual meeting of NPT Council and almost invariably you'll see reference to one or more of their lot having fallen off the perch in the preceding twelve months. And there's only 64 of them. Even I don't expect our councillors to die in service for me, hard and intolerant old bastard that I am.
So let's have an age limit and let our very oldest public representatives, many of whom have put in sterling service over the years, spend the time they have left reading the Beano, indulging in nostalgia, and dribbling in private instead of in full view of the public gallery.
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POSTSCRIPT: Here's a link to an interesting document published in Parliament dealing with the make up of councils - found after I'd wrote and posted mine. Just read para 36 if you only want to digest information dealing with councillors' ages.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmcomloc/432/43206.htm
