COUNCILS still have a long way to go to address gender and age gaps in how members reflect the communities they serve.

East and West Sussex county councils go to the polls next Thursday but whatever the outcome, returned councillors are almost certain to be disproportionately retired, white men.

Councillors admit the issue remains a problem with the demands of daytime meetings making it difficult to attract women and candidates in full-time employment.

The warning comes as The Fawcett Society published a report claiming sexism and sexual harassment is commonplace in local government.

A survey by the women’s rights charity shows 38 per cent of female councillors receiving sexist comments from colleagues and one in ten experiencing sexual harassment.

It also reports the proportion of female councillors has flatlined since 1997 at around a third while the number of female MPs has increased by 50 per cent.

At West Sussex, there are 20 women councillors out of 71 and the average age of members is 62.

That is unlikely to change much in the upcoming elections with only a quarter of the near 400 candidates standing being women.

Over in East Sussex the disparity is even greater – just 11 of 49 are women compared with Brighton and Hove where councillors have an average age below 55 and a near split of 25 women and 29 men.

West Sussex Councillor Sue Mullins said County Hall still suffered from similar tactics to Westminster where male members call out when female councillors were speaking and belittled female colleagues.

She said: “When I first came to County Hall I found it an extremely difficult place and there still is a problem. Some are perfect gentlemen but there are a few who belittle our work.

“Women still don’t feel they can do the job. I knock on doors and they will say ‘my husband deals with that’. It really is quite shocking.”

West Sussex County Council leader Louise Goldsmith said: “We have increased the number of women across the council every time since 2001 but we do really need more women to come forward. I would be very shocked if sexual harassment was a barrier in West Sussex, I have never heard of that happening.”

Dr James Walsh said: “I think it is a real problem across all parties in local government because of the pressure on work and the family situation. It is very difficult because West Sussex council meetings are all held during the day, making it difficult for those with work and family commitments.

“Even more of a problem than the gender gap is the age gap, we need more young people coming into local government. It is a widely held perception that the council is made up of retired people whose focus is on the issues related to the elderly.”

Fawcett Society chief executive Sam Smethers said: “Women councillors from all major parties are reporting sexism and sexual harassment from their own parties.”

WEST SUSSEX TORIES DEFEND LARGE MAJORITY

IN WEST Sussex the Conservatives will be protecting a large majority while Ukip will be hoping to match its huge impact in 2013 when it went from no seats to the official opposition in a few hours.

The Liberal Democrats were the victims of the Ukip surge last time around and will hope to recover losses this time while Labour hopes to consolidate and make gains.

The Green Party, Patria, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party The Justice Party, The Peace Party and the Something New party are all fielding candidates hoping to gain representation on the council.

Louise Goldsmith, Conservative group leader, said her party had “a very good story to tell” about financial management and keeping services running despite cuts to budgets.

She said despite an overwhelming majority, the group would never be complacent about the communities they served.

Cllr Goldsmith said: “People feel very reassured that we are campaigning for adult social care. We have been able to provide £25 million more over the next three years, and campaigning for better funding for schools, we have just put a very strongly worded response to the latest consultation.”

Cllr Goldsmith said there had been strong support for Theresa May on the doorstep.

She said: “Everybody I have spoken to feels Theresa May made the right move to try to secure the strong majority she needs to go and negotiate the very best deal for the country.”

Liberal Democrat Dr James Walsh said doubling their seven councillors was a “realistic and achievable aim” by targeting seats in Chichester, Horsham and Mid Sussex.

He said the main issues on the doorstep were the “crisis” in adult social care, school funding and the unpopularity of charges for DIY waste introduced at county tips.

He said: “It is a reasonable expectation that a Conservative county council could pull some influence with a Conservative Government but that clearly hasn’t happened over the last 20 years or we wouldn’t be in this funding crisis.

“Surrey County Council has been much more belligerent towards the Government and West Sussex could learn a lesson from them.”

Labour’s Sue Mullins said she hoped the party would hold its five seats, regain Three Bridges following boundary changes and push for gains in Littlehampton, Worthing and Burgess Hill.

She said residents were raising concerns about potholes and the county’s school crisis, with schools having nothing left to cut and talented teachers leaving rather than face 60-hour weeks.

She added: “People are very unhappy at the moment because of the crisis in social care and elderly people having to pay more and more for the most basic care. The Government is still not making forward plans, they offer just a sticking plaster.”

Green candidate James Doyle said the group had more candidates standing in West Sussex than ever before, fighting in 57 of the 71 wards.

He said: “Brexit is causing a lot of people to reassess and think long and hard about how they are going to vote.

“The civic amenity sites has been one of the key issues. We’ve pointed out we are 13 per cent behind some of our neighbours on recycling rates and if that was not going to landfill, we could have the resources to cover the charges revenue several times over.

“The A27 is a big issue in Worthing and Lancing as well as Chichester, we are calling for an alternative of sustainable transport and where it was once met with scepticism, it is now being received much more favourably.”

Cllr Doyle, a Worthing Borough Councillor, said calling a General Election during the local election campaign could cause confusion. He said: “Parties may already have some idea what will happen on May 4 but it will provide a lot of interesting data for the General Election and some parties will be reassessing their chances very quickly.”

A BAROMETER FOR GENERAL ELECTION

IN East Sussex in 2013 the Conservatives lost their majority as opposition parties chipped away a third of their seats.

It was the rise of Ukip which disrupted the political order – claiming its first seven seats on the council while Labour also made gains, helped with best-ever results in its stronghold of Hastings.

As in West Sussex it was the Liberal Democrats who were the victims of the successes of others, losing a sixth of their seats.

In 2017, Conservative deputy group leader David Elkin said the party was aiming to secure a majority.

He said: “Over the past four years we have had to work really hard, there’s been no official coalition whatever people say and we have done well despite the huge financial pressures. But it is always nice to have a majority administration, I think it makes a stronger administration whether that is national government, local government or parish council.

“We have a track record, we have achieved the eight things we said we would do four years ago and we have delivered more than that.

“The most vulnerable seats we have targeted are the Ukip seats from last time around.”

Cllr Elkins said the Conservatives had been campaigning since Christmas but there had been a noticeable change since Theresa May’s election announcement.

He said: “Since then, the questions have changed on the doorstep, there’s more of a focus on national issues, but I think that has had a positive effect for our party.”

Liberal Democrat David Tutt said feeling on the doorstep was as “good as it had ever been” with greater political engagement than in previous local elections.

He said he hoped May 5 would see the Liberal Democrats grow from their current base of ten councillors, win back Uckfield as well as hopes for gains in Lewes, where boundary changes are set to stir up results, and Hailsham.

He said doorstep issues included the perennial problems of “pavements and potholes” which had still not been resolved, school cuts, access to support for pupils with special educational needs and cuts to community policing.

He added: “The local election will be a bit of a barometer for what’s going to happen in the General Election. In the last week I have been talking about two elections rather than one.

“We are hearing a lot of support for Stephen Lloyd on the doorstep and the local election will be a good litmus test about whether we will win in the general election.”

Labour’s Godfrey Daniel this week said his party wanted to protect and enhance local services while the Conservative Government and their allies on the county and borough councils were determined to cut.

He said his group was opposed to selective schooling and described proposals to hand over fire services to the Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne as “madness”.

Ukip’s Laurence Keeley said his group was focused on housing, care and food security, adding that ten per cent of the weekly net payment to the EU could be used to undo damaging cuts which have affected the county council.