More Poles, Chinese and Nigerians should stand for council elections to ensure that these growing communities are better represented locally, Hazel Blears will say today.

The Communities Secretary will use her conference speech to call for a shake-up of town hall representation with more women, young people and foreign nationals.

Ms Blears will argue that town halls are still full of white, middle-aged men who no longer reflect the communities they represent. Part of the problem lies with political parties who still tend to nominate long-standing party members who can attend meetings.

Younger people, women and foreign nationals are also put off from standing because they find it difficult to juggle meetings with work or children.

Ms Blears will devote much of her speech today to promising more powers to communities, including devolved budgets, petition rights and the establishment of citizens’ juries. She will also call for elected members for NHS trusts to ensure that hospital boards have more democratic accountability.

But she believes that if local councils are to be properly representative, they should have a broad spectrum of councillors. “Local councils should be truly representative of their local communities. Currently they are not,” Ms Blears is to say. “I want to see more women, more young people, and more people from the diverse ethnic communities of modern Britain. That means more Polish people, more Nigerians, more Turkish, more Chinese people standing for election and serving as councillors. Our councils should look like our communities.”

An estimated 600,000 Poles live in Britain with many settling in this country with their families, rather than making money and returning home. They attend British schools, use the NHS and other local public services but rarely have any say in local provision.

Ms Blears believes that councils should contact minority groups and encourage them to participate. She argues that if people are making an economic and cultural contribution, they should also make a democratic one.

A survey from the Improvement and Development Agency this year showed that 96 per cent of councillors are white, compared with 2.7 per cent Asian and 0.5 per cent black. The survey of 17,855 councillors out of a total of 20,000 across England and Wales showed that only a handful are Chinese. Poles were not separately counted but with other white nonBritish account for fewer than 0.7 per cent of councillors.

A Councillors’ Commission, set up by the Government earlier this year, is due to report in the next few months with recommendations about how to attract a better cross-section of councillors. These are expected to include more flexible timetabling to ensure councillors’ duties can be fitted into family schedules and after work.

Those entitled to stand as councillors are British citizens, Irish citizens and EU residents who live in the UK and are on the electoral register.

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