Local governments are meant to represent the community, but are ours reflective of the people they represent?

Kent County Council is made up of 81 councillors but how many of those identify themselves as black, Asian or another minor ethnic community (BAME)?

Not enough, according to some, and there are a few people who are pushing to change that, not only at KCC but also on the 12 borough, city and district councils in the county – which work alongside KCC – and Medway, which runs independently as a unitary authority.

The county council is formed of members chosen in elections every four years.

The authority’s website states: “Councillors are the decision and policymakers. They use information from officers at the council and represent the views of their residents to help them do this.”

Tory Avtar Sandhu is one of the councillors at KCC who identifies as BAME. He represents Wilmington and also sits as a borough councillor at Dartford where he represents Wilmington, Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley.

On our councils, he said: “I would say that there is nowhere near enough diversity.”

According to ONS statistics from the 2021 census, there are 165,490 people in Kent who identify themselves as BAME.

So, are all of Kent’s residents truly being represented, and are our councils fulfilling their purpose?

It seems – according to some ethnic minority councillors in Kent’s borough and district councils – the answer is no.

Victoria Akintomide-Akinwamide is a Labour borough councillor representing Ebbsfleet on Dartford council.

She said: “KCC is full of many white men – it’s a problem because it’s not representative of the society that we live in at all and the conduct of those people in chambers is very much an old boys’ club.”

Cllr Dinesh Khadka (Lib Dem) is also a borough councillor, representing Maidstone High Street ward on Maidstone council. He said: “If you go back to 2002/2003, there is a very limited number of BAME people. Since then, Maidstone has had a massive growth of diverse communities.”

In the next five years, Dartford is going to have an additional 20,000 people move there based on the housing development plan alone, and neighbouring Ebbsfleet Garden City continues to grow with a further 12,000 homes planned to be built over the next 12 years.

Cllr Akintomide-Akinwamide said: “A lot of these people are young migrant ethnic minority individuals who are coming to the area because it is more affordable for them than other parts of the country at the moment.

“So, there is a lot of diversity coming into the area across the spectrum. It is important for our representatives to not only look like those people, but also to understand them.”

This scrutiny of local government follows an incident at Dartford’s Annual Meeting of the Council in May when one councillor asked another – who was of a BAME background – “whether they would have to deal with pronouncing their name”.

On the situation, Cllr Akintomide-Akinwamide said: “It shows that they have no concept of the people that live in the boroughs they are representing.”

She said she felt that some people said they supported diversity and inclusion but their actions “fall far from what is presented.”

If more diversity is needed in our councils, why are there so few councillors who are of ethnic minorities?

Cllr Kwashie Anang, who is one of 59 councillors sitting on Medway Council, believes there still needs to be more diversity across Kent’s local governments.

Cllr Anang (Con), who represents Rainham North, said: “Most of our community members don’t get themselves involved with politics – I think most people are more aware of the general elections, but not when it comes to local governance.

“I think our people don’t actually have enough information about how the system works.”

Cllr Sandhu said: “My personal opinion is that more involvement would mean that the whole community could be represented and have more of an influence on the way things are structured for their communities.”

So, how can diversity be achieved in borough, district and county councils?

Cllr Anang said: “By informing and encouraging people from diverse communities to try to stand for office as an independent or even as part of a political party.”

Cllr Khadka said: “We want to see people from other backgrounds, people who have lived here for many, many years – it’s sad if they are not represented that way.”

KCC runs sessions encouraging people to become councillors, but Cllr Akintomide-Akinwamide said: “I don’t think they [KCC] really advertise how people are being councillors and representing the community. They need to be more transparent about the process.

“When it comes to public life, there’s a lot to know about how it’s done but that shouldn’t be limited to the type of men who have been there for a long time.”

Anyone who wishes to stand for council can register under a party or as an independent at their local council office.

For more information, there are resources and guides at https://www.local.gov.uk/be-councillor

If getting involved in local government doesn’t sound like something for you, there are other ways to bring about change.

Councillors are asking more BAME individuals to get more involved in the community, whether that is as a school governor, on a parish council or with a community group.

Cllr Akintomide-Akinwamide said: “I would like to encourage young women and men to really occupy that space because it is so important and because the decisions that are being made matter.

“The decisions on schooling, what a lot of money is spent on in the local area – these are fundamental decisions that can’t be in the hands of the few.“

Cllr Sandhu said: “We all would like a safe seat without having to do so much leg work.

“The communities need to work more with all the local communities rather than just their own - I would be very happy if someone wanted to learn the ropes from me.”