What is a Council
Government in the UK is provided at both a national and a local level.
Locally - the country is divided into a series of local authorities (also known as Councils). Every four years, voters in each area elect people to the Council to represent them.
There are three tiers of local government for South Northamptonshire.
- South Northamptonshire Council provides services that require a local knowledge and focus. These include services such as waste collection, planning, street cleaning, benefits and work with the police to prevent crime and disorder.
- Northamptonshire County Council provides services that affect the whole of the county. These include things like roads, education, libraries, social services and emergency planning.
- Town and Parish Councils provide an even more local focus. Although they have limited formal powers, they play an important role in reflecting the detailed views of local residents on matters such as planning, highways and social housing.
The people elected as Councillors make up the Membership of the Council and are therefore often known as 'Members' as well as 'Councillors'. The two terms mean the same thing.
The people who stand for election as Councillors may belong to one of the national political parties or to a local political party, or they may be completely independent of a political party.
If more than half of the people on a council belong to a particular political party, that party is referred to as the majority party and its leader or its nominated representative is known as the Leader of the Council.
If none of the political parties has an overall majority, the Council is known as a hung council and the Leader is usually, but not always, nominated by party with the largest number of Members.