At least 225 local authority wethouders, or aldermen, resigned during the past year, or 16% of the total in office, according to research by local authority monitoring body De Collegetafel.

Of these, 44 left for personal reasons, such as family matters or a new job, and 38 left because of their health. A further 94 – the largest group – quit because of political conflict.

The last elections for the Netherlands’ 342 local authorities were in 2022.

Jeroen van Gool, director of the local authority board association, told Nieuwsuur the number of departures is worrying and that the job of alderman has become more intense in recent years.

“The number of aldermen has not increased, nor has the size of their support teams,” he said. “But 60 to 70-hour weeks have become the norm.”

By law, a council may have one alderman for every five councillors, with a maximum of nine in the big cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague.

Van Gool said the law needs changing so that local councils can decide for themselves how many aldermen they need. This would also make it easier to form coalitions, he said.

In earlier research, almost half of local councillors said they had been confronted with aggression and threats over the previous year, double the total 10 years ago.