The Councillors' Role

County councillors are elected by the people of Nottinghamshire and are accountable for the services provided by the County Council. They decide what services to provide and how much money to spend on them.

Councillors are normally members of a political party but they can be ‘independent’.

Each councillor represents a particular area of the county. There are 67 county councillors in Nottinghamshire representing 54 areas of the county. These areas are called electoral divisions. (Some of the larger electoral divisions have 2 or 3 councillors). Who is your councillor? See a list of all Councillors.

County Councillors:

• use their local knowledge and views to help to make Council decisions
• represent the interests of the residents of their area
• check the quality of County Council services provided in their area
• help local people who want information or want to use County Council services

County Councillors do this by:

• attending Full Council meetings. This is where policies and issues are debated and voted on
• sitting on Committees, which look in detail at specific parts of the Council’s work
• working closely with other agencies that operate in their area. For example, many Councillors are governors of local schools, sit on the board of PCTs or the Police Authority. Some County Councillors may also be district or parish councillors
• holding regularly surgeries, where the public can go to raise any issues they would like to see addressed by the council, or find out more about the council and its services.

Some councillors are given extra duties and responsibilities, such as the Leader of the Council, the portfolio holders and the committee chairs. Find out more about the key roles within the Council.