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Your Roles in the Council
Your Roles in the Council
Councillors’ formal roles within the council vary. All councillors are members of the full Council which sets the overall policies and budget. A small number of councillors will form the cabinet or executive board, others will sit on a range of different committees such as overview and scrutiny and regulatory committees. You will find more information about the role of and rules governing each of these committees in your council constitution. Councillors also represent the Council on other bodies such as fire and rescue authorities; police and crime panels; and national park authorities (where relevant). Your council may provide you with a role description. If this is not available some examples are available here.
More information about Committees
Find out more about Committees and planning.
Outside Bodies
As a councillor, you may be nominated by your council to sit on various types of outside bodies such as community organisations, housing associations and local companies. Being a council representative on an outside body does not necessarily mean that you will be representing the council’s interests on the organisation. You will be expected to act in the interests of the outside body and exercise independent judgement in making decisions, in accordance with your duty of care to the body.
Serving in specialist areas
Meetings
Under legislation set out in the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, councils can decide how they want to hold meetings. This can range from everyone joining remotely to everyone being physically present and any hybrid combination of the two. Police and Crime Panel meetings are governed by English legislation and may not have the same flexibility. Some council meetings are also broadcast so that they can be watched locally by the public, or anyone in the world!
Find out more about meetings through the link below.
Corporate Roles
Your formal roles within the council will vary, but there are some responsibilities common to all councillors. It is important that you familiarise yourself with your council’s policies in this area.