What is Councillors?

Information about Councillors

For information on a person who provides counsel or advice, see counselor


Legislature
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the Politics series
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A councillor (Cllr or Clr for short) is a member of a council (such as a city council), particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the Commonwealth, as well as in the Republic of Ireland. Often in the US, the title is councilman or councilwoman or shortened to councilor.[1]

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all local authorities are overseen by elected councillors.

These include:
  1. unitary authorities
  2. county councils,
  3. district councils,
  4. parish, town or community councils.


Councillors are typically elected as members of political parties although they may stand as independents. Once elected they are meant to represent all their constituents and not just those who voted for them. They are bound by a code of conduct enforced by standards boards. The 2007 Local Elections in the UK saw the age limit for councillers fall to 18, leading to younger people standing. The Eastleigh Liberal Democrats had an 18-year-old elected before ballots, due to the Ward he was standing in being unopposed.

Decision making structures

The Local Government Act 2000 established new political management structures for councils. All councils with populations above 85,000 now take one of three forms; elected mayor with executive powers, leader and cabinet with executive powers, directly elected mayor with an appointed council manager.

Councillors' skills

More specialised decision making structures mean councillors are expected to perform a range of different roles, such as; licencing and regulatory decision making, policy overview & scrutiny, executive decision making, political leadership, determining planning applications and community representation.

Councillors also play a wider role in providing community leadership. Enabling communities to help themselves and providing a vital link between the local authority and the communities which they serve. Non executive councillors now have more time to focus on improving the communities which they serve, and play more of a role in developing policy and recommending to the Executive, decisions to be made and holding them to account publicly for their decisions, through the scrutiny process, which provides a platform for real issues which affect communities. Issues which can be raised by fellow councillors and members of the public alike, and for in depth work to be carried out into those issues. A councillor’s role is now one of influence rather than that of power, influencing the decision makers and holding them to account as well as influencing the key stakeholders within their wards. Councillors have a mandate now to lead and identify opportunities for change in a wide range of subjects which affect the communities in which we live, to identify skills and resources within communities and to bring them together for the greater good, this, along with greater emphasis in local government over partnership working with health, police and fire authorities.

The desire for clearer roles and raised standards has been accompanied by an increase in councillor training and development by organisations such as the Improvement and Development Agency, The Local Government Information Unit LGIU and the Local Government Association.

Remuneration

Most councillors are not full time professionals, although most councils do pay them a basic allowance and out-of-pocket expenses. In addition special responsibility allowances are paid to councillors who carry out more senior roles. The basic allowance (and special responsibility allowance) are theoretically paid to compensate councillors for the time spent on council duties. Parish, town or community councillors may, since the Local Government Act 2000 be paid for their services, but most are not.

Regional government

The London Assembly is not regarded as a local authority but a regional devolved assembly and its members are referred to as Assembly Members.

References

1. ^ Viser, Matt (7 August 2006). Spelling spats divide City Council. Boston Globe. Retrieved on 7 August 2006.

See also

External links

A counsel or a counsellor gives advice, more particularly in legal matters.

The legal system in England uses the term counsel as an approximate synonym for a barrister-at-law or solicitor advocate
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Advice may refer to:
  • Advice (opinion), an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct.
  • Advice (constitutional), in constitutional law, a frequently binding instruction issued to a constitutional office-holder

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counselor (or counsellor) in mental health, psychotherapy or counseling is a licensed and professionally trained person who provides services:

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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
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Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious
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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
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This is a list of legislatures by country, whether parliamentary or congressional, that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives with the power to legislate. In the lists below all entities included in the list of countries are included.
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parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modelled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak): a parlement
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A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its
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Parliamentary group and parliamentary party are terms used to refer to the representation of a political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or in a city council.
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The chairperson of a fraction is in parliamentary system with strong party discipline an influential political post. When the party is in opposition or a minor partner in a governing coalition he or she is often the political leader of a party and often the main media contact.
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In politics, a congress ("a gathering of people") is the name of the main legislative body in a state that operates under a congressional system of government. In non-political usage congress is a term applied to a large national or international grouping of people meeting together
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worldwide view.


A Congressman or Congresswoman is a politician who is a member of a Congress. In countries with a parliament rather than a congress, MP (Member of Parliament) is used instead; however, this can be adapted (see below).
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Unicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.
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bicameralism (bi + Latin camera, chamber) is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses.
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Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted to unicameralism and bicameralism, both of which are far more common.
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Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers: an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral.
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upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.

Possible specific characteristics

An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:

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senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. There have been many such bodies in history, the first of which was the Roman Senate.

Overview

The word senate is derived from the Latin word senatus
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lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.

Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power.
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red and orange—the former being constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state.
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worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
A city council is a form of local government, usually covering a city or other urban area, such as a town.
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Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller than a state or province. The term is used to contrast with offices that stand naked nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or (where appropriate) federal government.
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worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
A city council is a form of local government, usually covering a city or other urban area, such as a town.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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Anthem
Advance Australia Fair [1]


Capital Canberra

Largest city Sydney
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Anthem
"God Defend New Zealand"
"God Save the Queen" 1


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Largest city Auckland
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Headquarters
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Official languages English
Membership 53 sovereign states
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