Make a Change – Become a Councillor

Are you passionate about your local area? Then put yourself forward to be elected to sit on the parish or town council as a councillor. There are 10,000 local councils in England, with 100,000 councillors. They are the heroes of their communities and give residents a voice on the decisions a council makes. They can improve the lives of fellow residents and make a real difference to their community. A brief fact sheet can also be downloaded here.

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has released a video starring our very own viral sensation, Jackie Weaver, to help get more people involved in local (parish and town) councils. The video, shot in rural Yorkshire, raises the importance of everyone having a stake in their community and getting involved in their local council. Watch the video: https://youtu.be/_RrvU5V0GY8

Jackie was also interviewed for the Make A Change campaign see https://youtu.be/H8OVGiyClhg for a few minutes of her thoughts and advice.

How else can you become a councillor?

There are a number of ways in which you can become a councillor. These are:

• ordinary election;
• by election;
• return after a successful election petition;
• co-option to a casual vacancy; and
• appointment by the principal authority (where the number of vacancies on the council mean that it is unable to act, the principal authority may by order appoint persons to fill vacancies until councillors are elected)
• appointment by the council itself (in accordance with regulations made by the Secretary of State)

To qualify to become a councillor you must be:

• a Commonwealth citizen (which includes being a British subject) or a citizen of a member state of the European Union;
• over the age of 18;
• an elector of the parish; and in addition
• have been either during the whole of the twelve months before the day of nomination or the day of election resided in the parish or within three miles of it or occupied as owner or tenant any land or premises therein or had principal or only place of work there.

It is therefore possible to sit on more than one council.

You may find this publication useful – It Takes All Sorts

Support for Women
Elect Her is a non-partisan organisation working to motivate, support and equip women in all their diversity to stand for political office in Britain. They offer practical, hands-on training and support to help women get started on their political journeys and encourage all women to take one of their free online workshops to demystify the process of getting involved in politics. See https://www.elect-her.org.uk/

Councillor vacancies
For information about specific vacancies contact your local council clerk – each parish and town council has its own website which will hold contact information for the one you are looking for.