Council branded ‘retirement club’

A COUNCIL has been branded a “retirement club” after councillors said they didn’t want to have meetings in the evening.

A survey of members of Denbighshire Council on the timings of meetings was carried out over August and September.

The majority of those responding to the survey said they wanted to carry on having meetings in the morning. But councillors with fulltime jobs and young families said they wanted to have more meetings in the evenings.

Thirty-five responses were received, representing 74% of the membership, and of these responses 29 said they wanted to have morning meetings.

Prestatyn North county councillor Paul Penlington, who has a full-time job, said: “The current council makes it very difficult for anyone in work or caring to stand for election and they have no interest in changing that.

“I have said Denbighshire council is a retirement club, until more flexibility is introduced it will remain that way and the public will be excluded.”

And campiagners who want to see more women involved in politics argued that meetings during the day were stopping people running for the council.

Natasha Davies, Policy and Research lead at Chwarae Teg, said: “Currently women remain under-represented among local councillors in Wales, with women making up just 28% of councillors across Wales. We know that inaccessible meeting-times is one of a number of issues which can act as a barrier to those with caring or work responsibilities.”