As well as being an advocate for local residents and signposting them to the right people at the council, you will need to keep them informed about the issues that affect them. In order to understand and represent local views and priorities, you need to build strong relationships and encourage local people to make their views known and engage with you and the council.
Good communication and engagement are central to being an effective councillor. Community leadership is at the heart of modern local government. Councils work in partnership with local communities and organisations — including the public, voluntary, community and private sectors — to develop a vision for their local area, working collaboratively to improve services and quality of life for citizens.
Councillors have a lead role in this process. Councils need clear strategies and policies to enable them to achieve their vision for the area, make the best use of resources and deliver services that meet the needs of local communities.
As a councillor you will contribute to the development of these policies and strategies, bringing the views and priorities of your local area to the debate. How you do this will depend on the committees and forums you are appointed to. Councils are not just service providers; they also act as regulators. As a councillor you may be appointed to sit on the planning and regulatory committee — considering issues such as planning applications, licences for pubs and restaurants and ensuring that businesses comply with the law.
This involves councillors ensuring that the views of local communities are represented and fed into decisions taken by the council and partners. Councillors also have a responsibility to communicate council policy and decisions to people in their ward.
All councillors are advocates for their communities and support individual constituents to navigate the complex landscape of local public services. The key to all of the roles of the councillor is leadership. Leaders of councils are not just those who hold formal roles such as the Council leader or committee convener. Every councillor is a leader within and of the community that chose to elect them to represent their area and their interests.
If elected, being a community leader will involve a number of things, including:. Councils are not just service providers — they also play a regulatory role in issues such as planning, licensing, trading standards and environmental health. This involves councillors in quasi-legal roles on special committees appointed directly by the council. These regulatory committees operate within a specific set of legislation and guidance, and councillors can only make decisions that are in accordance with such guidance.
Training will be given to all councillors appointed to such committees. Interested in becoming a councillor? Please enable javascript in your browser settings to view virtual breadcrumbs marking the 9 most recent pages you have visited on birmingham. The following links are virtual breadcrumbs marking the 9 most recent pages you have visited on birmingham. If you want to remember a specific page forever click the pin in the top right corner and we will be sure not to replace it.
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