Councillors
Whether a councillor stood for election and was voted in, or were instead co-opted to fill a vacancy, it makes little difference. Councillors work together in the council to serve the community. A councillors role is to bring local issues to the attention of the council and help it make decisions on behalf of the local community.
Councillors bring many skills and experiences to the table and every councillor can make acontribution. The following list gives a taster of the things a councillor should do:
- effectively represents the interests of their parish
- actively and constructively contributes to good governance
- actively encourages community participation and citizen involvement in the work of the council
- knows and has contact with key local stakeholders
- represents the council to the community
- is a channel of communication for the parish and ensures constituents are informed of services and decisions that affect them and the reasons for these decisions
- develops and maintains a working knowledge of organisations operating within the area
- deals with constituents’ enquiries and representations fairly and without prejudice
- contributes to the formation of the council’s policies and plans by active involvement in council meetings
- undertakes appropriate training and development to help fulfil the requirements of the councillors role
- acts as the councils representative on outside bodies and reports back
Conduct and Interests
There are seven Nolan Principles which define the standards of public life. They are:
- Selflessness – you should act in the public interest
- Integrity – you should not put yourself under any obligations to others, allow them improperly to influence you or seek benefit for yourself, family, friends or close associates
- Objectivity – you should act impartially, fairly and on merit
- Accountability – you should be prepared to submit to public scrutiny necessary to ensure accountability
- Openness – you should be open and transparent in your actions and decisions unless there are clear and lawful reasons for non-disclosure
- Honesty – you should always be truthful
- Leadership – as a councillor, you should promote, support and exhibit high standards of conduct and be willing to challenge poor behaviour.
Each local council adopts a Code of Conduct that is in line with the Nolan Principles and deals with councillors’ obligations to register and disclose their interests. Any complaints about a councillors’ conduct must be dealt with by the principal authority’s monitoring officer.
Councillors must declare their business and financial interests called ‘Disclosable Pecuniary Interests’. These include: employment, land and business interests. It is a potential criminal offence to fail to register or declare a DPI, discuss and/or voting on a matter where there is a DPI.
May 2024
