Time Commitment
The amount of time each Councillor spends on Council work varies. Clearly, some Councillors have more time to give than others, but if you are elected to the office of Chairman of the Council, or Council Leader the role can be very demanding. Similarly, if you were to be elected as a Lead Member on the Executive Committee or a Chairman of one of the Policy Panels, the Scrutiny, Development Control or Licensing and Appeals Committee, there would be significant calls on your time.
There is no fixed time that Councillors are expected to spend on Council duties, but from evidence presented (and confirmed by national survey findings) Councillors spend the equivalent of up to 20 hours per week on council duties. The work includes dealing with problems, generating community interest and action and representation on local bodies, non-council committees, charities, attending parish/town councils and residents' meetings.
As a member of any Council body you will be expected to attend its meetings. There will also be workshops and briefings and occasional training seminars which you will be invited to attend with Officers and other Councillors.
Outside the Council Chamber, your representative role will involve you making yourself available to your electorate. You may choose to hold ward surgeries or something similar to best manage this process. However, the people of your ward will expect you to lead local projects to both enhance and defend your ward. You will also be expected to have regular contact with the Parish and Town Councils operating within your ward.
Many of these activities take place in the evening and problems do not necessarily arise during working hours. It must also be said that being a Councillor does, to some extent, impact on family life and an individual's career, and can involve work during unsocial hours. At the present time there is a mix of daytime and evening meetings. The full Council, for instance, meets in the evening on a Thursday every second month.
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Subscribe to changes to this page here.Author: Eric Williams. Last Updated: 10/8/2006.
