09 February 2012What is a councillor?
There are around 500 principal councils (such as County, borough and district councils) in the UK as well as thousands of town and parish councils.
Each council is responsible for providing local services. These range from education, transport and street cleaning to social services and housing. To do this, they employ more than two million people and are directed by local councillors.
In the Sevenoaks District Council area, councillors are elected by the public every four years to represent an individual geographical area on the council known as a ward (for a district or borough council), a parish or parish ward (at town or parish council level) or an electoral division (at the county council level).
The next Sevenoaks District Council and corresponding town and parish council elections are planned for May 2011 and the next Kent County Council elections are due in June 2013.
What do councillors do?
Councillors have three main components to their work:
Decision-making: the local council has a duty to make sure that certain services are provided and it is the councillors who make the decisions which are carried out by paid council officers.
Monitoring: councillors make sure that their decisions lead to efficient and effective services by regularly scrutinising and monitoring how well things are working.
Getting involved locally: as local representatives, councillors have responsibilities towards their constituents and local organisations. Much of a councillor's work is done in formal council meetings, but councillors also take on other duties. These are varied and may include attending meetings of local organisations (such as tenants' associations), going to meetings of bodies affecting the wider community such as police liaison committees, taking up issues on behalf of members of the public and then visiting, ringing up or writing to council officials and meeting with individual residents.
Different types of councillor
Every candidate needs to understand the legal responsibilities of the council they are standing for. In Sevenoaks District there are three types of council: the County Council (Kent County Council), the District Council (Sevenoaks District Council) and town and parish councils.
In other areas, such as Medway, there is just one authority, known as a unitary council, which has the responsibility for providing the services.
Once you have decided what level you would like to stand for, you will need to be clear about how much time is needed.
Once elected you will most probably be asked to become a member of a committee or be part of a working group, which would obviously mean more time is needed from you.
Typically you could spend at least two days a week as a county or unitary councillor, a day a week at the district level and an evening a month at parish level. Council meetings often take place in the evening, beginning around 7pm, although some may take place during the daytime, especially County Council meetings.
How to stand for council elections
You can stand if you are over 18 years of age and you are a British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen. You also need to have a local connection, e.g. have lived or worked or be entered on the electoral register for the council area for which you wish to stand.
You cannot stand for election if you are bankrupt or have served a prison sentence of three months or more within the last five years. You are also ineligible if you work for the council you want to become a councillor for.
You need to decide if you want to stand as a candidate of a registered political party or as an independent candidate.
If you decide you would like to have the backing of a recognised political party you will have to be selected as the party’s candidate, before you can stand for election. You can find your local association or local constituency party by looking at the website of your chosen party.
If you experience difficulty you could contact the national party’s headquarters. They will explain how the selection of candidates works at this level. If you are successful, you can only declare yourself as the adopted candidate when the election is declared. If the election is some time away, the party would still expect you to promote yourself by going to meetings and so on.
As an independent you are very much on your own when it comes to practical and financial support.
Campaigning during the election period
You will need to manage your campaign on a timetable, a budget and a team.
Timetable: the timetable should cover all the official dates of the election period and your own schedule for preparing leaflets and meeting the public.
Budget: setting a budget is important as it will stop you going over the legal election expenses limit.
Teambuilding: building a team doesn’t have to be difficult. You could start with family and friends. As your campaign gets under way, ask your supporters for help. You will need to distribute leaflets, canvass voters and try to get your message across.
If you are affiliated to a local party they will give you support.
Depending on the type of election, counting the votes may take place after the close of polling stations at 10pm or the following day. You, your partner and agent will be allowed to go to the count.
Useful links
The Electoral Commission elections page - www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections.
The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) represents the interests of town and parish councils in England - a total of around 8,500 councils - www.nalc.gov.uk
