What is a Councillor?
Councillors are elected to represent an individual geographic unit on the Council, known as a ward or - mainly in smaller parishes - the entire community or town council area. They are generally elected by the public every four years.
What do Councillors do?
Councillors have three main components to their work:-
Decision Making - through meetings and attending committees with other elected members, councillors decide which activities to support, where money should be spent, what services should be delivered and what policies should be implemented.
Monitoring - Councillors make sure that their decisions lead to efficient and effective services by keeping an eye on how well things are working.
Getting involved locally - as local representatives, councillors have responsibilities towards their constituents and local organisations. These responsibilities and duties often depend on what the councillor wants to achieve and how much time is available, and may include:-
- going to meetings of local organisations such as tenants' associations
- going to meetings of bodies affecting the wider community
- taking up issues on behalf of members of the public
- running a surgery for residents to bring up issues
- meeting with individual residents in their own homes
Visiting your council is the best way to find out what happens there. Give the council a call and find out when its next public meeting happens. by law, ordinary people are allowed to be present at most council business.
What Services can a Parish Council Provide?
A Community Council might provide and/or maintain some or all of the following services:-
- allotments
- burial grounds
- community transport schemes
- bus shelters
- crime reduction measures
- leisure facilities
- bridleways
A Community Council can also work with the Borough Council and the County Council to provide other services:-
- litter bins
- street cleaning
- local youth projects
- street lighting
- open spaces
- tourism activities
- planning
- Village greens
- traffic calming measures