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Ethnic makeup of Council and Councilors not representative of borough
Diamond stat
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I am not sure if my borough is unique or not and actually not sure whether it is a negative or not.
I live in a borough that according to the official 2011 census was over 55% white british. Adding 'white other' it brings the white population up to 64%.
Now what is strange is that the majority of the council workers in by borough are asian (specifically british indian with some british pakistanis also). What is further, the majority of the councilors are also asian. I was at a planning committee last night and major £2 billion project was passed by the planning committee despite huge public anger. The planning committee consisted of 15 councilors, the majority of whom are asian in origin. Like with the last planning meeting I was at, all the asian councilors voted the same way and the only councilors who opposed the motion, like last time, where non asian.
Now I understand that the police have used positive discrimination in recruitment drives, aimed specifically at bringing more ethnic minorities into the force. There have been other examples in other organisations who had a mandate to bring in other groups such as women and the disabled to places of work underrepresented by those groups. But what happens when you have a council where the majority of those working within the council and making the decisions are mostly all one race - a race that is not representative of the borough as a whole. We are at the stage in my borough (would prefer not to name the borough) where the minority within the council are white and the majority is asian, even though, in the borough itself, asians are a minority - about 25% according to the last census.
As with the pedophile scandals in the north (grooming) and with the problem of islamified state schools - no one is readily willing to touch on such a sensitive subject with confidence, but is it racist to suggest a council's demography should be equally shared among all races and genders?
I live in a borough that according to the official 2011 census was over 55% white british. Adding 'white other' it brings the white population up to 64%.
Now what is strange is that the majority of the council workers in by borough are asian (specifically british indian with some british pakistanis also). What is further, the majority of the councilors are also asian. I was at a planning committee last night and major £2 billion project was passed by the planning committee despite huge public anger. The planning committee consisted of 15 councilors, the majority of whom are asian in origin. Like with the last planning meeting I was at, all the asian councilors voted the same way and the only councilors who opposed the motion, like last time, where non asian.
Now I understand that the police have used positive discrimination in recruitment drives, aimed specifically at bringing more ethnic minorities into the force. There have been other examples in other organisations who had a mandate to bring in other groups such as women and the disabled to places of work underrepresented by those groups. But what happens when you have a council where the majority of those working within the council and making the decisions are mostly all one race - a race that is not representative of the borough as a whole. We are at the stage in my borough (would prefer not to name the borough) where the minority within the council are white and the majority is asian, even though, in the borough itself, asians are a minority - about 25% according to the last census.
As with the pedophile scandals in the north (grooming) and with the problem of islamified state schools - no one is readily willing to touch on such a sensitive subject with confidence, but is it racist to suggest a council's demography should be equally shared among all races and genders?
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Positive discrimination is not lawful. Recruitment, whether in the police or other organisations should ensure that they are getting applications from as wide a base as possible but they cannot discriminate.
Which council is it though - I don't see why you are concerned about naming it? Their ethnic make-up. both of employees and councillors, is a matter of public record and I'd be interested to see what the numbers actually show. If there is a bias being shown then it should be raised publicly but you have to have the numbers to back it up.
It seems the Asians cant win.
Dont get involved in the process & you are accused of not fitting in / integrating etc. Put yourself forward & become a councillor & then its 'there are too many of them'
Wont stand themselves. Will criticise the ethnics for not mixing & taking a stand for anything.
Then whinge when some do.
Yep, get involved and perhaps consider wider potential reforms too, e.g. proportional representation at local government level so that all interests can be represented (but even then that'll only happen if people take part).
A possible answer to your problem.
It involves actually getting out and doing something rather than sitting around reading celebrity magazines or giggling at Ant and Dec, which is how many millions of people spend their spare time nowadays.
Well I am certainly not as bothered as you come across every post. I even stated at the beginning of my post it may not be a bad thing.
Getting back to the point, whether I joined the council or not will not affect what I said. There is a big difference in ethnicity and one new 'white other' wont change that. I work full time, happy in my job and have a busy life so, I would not be able to give the time required in a very populated borough.
However, the hostility towards myself on this thread for even questioning this demography at my council tells me, it is best if I stay clear anyway.
Big planning decision decided in the last 24hrs
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/brentfords-waterfront-transformed-nearly-900-8190480
15 members on the planning committee and a majority with names that appear to originate from the Asian sub-continent
http://democraticservices.hounslow.gov.uk/mgCommitteeMailingList.aspx?ID=595
Seems we are talking about the London Borough of Hounslow, so here is a breakdown for the ethnic identity of it's inhabitants.
http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/ethnicity_ethnic_groups_hounslow.csv
Not according to Thandie Newton.
And although I haven't seen figures for their workforce as a whole, the data here is for all recruitment done in 2013:
http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/equality_objectives_recruitment_data.pdf
which gives 26% of new recruits as Indian or Pakistani ethnicity, vs 23% in the census. Which seems pretty representative to me.
Seems about right doesn't it. Looking at the council about 28 appear to be from ethnic minorities (out of 60) - all the 11 Tories are white people and from the richer parts of the area. It is disproportionate, but then the councillors you get depend on who is prepared to put the time in to get selected and elected. As has been said, addressing this is in the hands of anyone who wants to have a go themselves.
I doubt those figures will be released ever.
Here you go
http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/workforce_data_sep14.pdf
You could always make a Freedom of Information request, I can't think of any grounds they would refuse it and most councils are crash hot on ethnic monitoring so should have the figures at hand.
EDIT: You don't even have to do that as the council have already freely provided that information.
He won't need to, the figures are required to be collated and published and are linked in my previous post.
Edit. Which you gave acknowledged
And they even provide a nice little bar chart comparing the ethnic make-up of council employees with that of the borough's residents, just what the OP was questioning.
Female: 69%
Male: 31%
Chief Executives - by Gender
Female: 92
Male: 38
Looks like men are somewhat under represented. ;-)
I had that at a place I used to work, big announcement trumpeted that in a particular grade of staff there were now more females than men. When a group of us asked HR what they were going to do to address the under representation of men there was stony silence.:D
I think it can partly be put down to traditionally female occupations, ie. Staff in careing professions, teaching, social work. Also the flexable working practices of most councils fits in well with looking after a family.
Those are detailed figures and presented in an easy to understand way. Bet the OP is going to be delighted that he can have his questions answered so easily.
Did I read it right....black & white people under represented & asian people over?