Article 2 – Members of the Council

(a) Composition: The Council comprises 90 Members, otherwise called Councillors. One Councillor is elected by the voters of each of 89 electoral divisions, and two are elected to one electoral division in the County.

(b) Eligibility: Only registered voters of the county or those living or working there will be eligible to hold the office of Councillor.

2.02 Election and Terms of Councillors

Election and terms: The regular election of Councillors will be held on the first Thursday in May (unless the Government determines otherwise) every four years. The terms of office of Councillors will start on the fourth day after being elected and will finish on the fourth day after the date of the next regular election.

2.03 Roles and Functions of all Councillors

(a) Key roles. All Councillors will:

(i) represent their communities and bring their views into the Council’s decision-making process, i.e. become the advocate of and for their communities;

(ii) deal with individual casework and act as an advocate for constituents in resolving particular concerns or grievances;

(iii) balance different interests identified within their electoral division and represent the electoral division as a whole;

(iv) represent the Council in the community;

(v) meeting together in full Council, set the budget and policy framework for Council;

(vi) participate in decision making through membership of Area Committees;

(vii) if a member of the Executive, take or participate in executive decisions; and if not a member of the Executive, participate in the scrutiny of such decisions.

(viii) become involved in policy development, through membership of Overview and Scrutiny Committees;

(ix) participate in Scrutiny Reviews;

(x) provide a channel of communication and information to and from local people in time of emergency;

(xi) be available to represent the Council on other bodies; and

(xii) maintain the highest standards of conduct and ethics.

(b) Rights and duties

(i) Councillors will have such rights of access to documents, information, land and buildings of the Council as are necessary for the proper discharge of their functions and in accordance with the law.

(ii) Except as legally permitted, Councillors will not make public information which is confidential or exempt without the consent of the Council or divulge information given in confidence to anyone other than a Councillor or Officer entitled to know it.

(iii) For these purposes, “confidential” and “exempt” information are defined in the Access to Information Rules in Part 4 of this Constitution.

2.04 Conduct

Councillors will at all times observe the Members’ Code of Conduct and the Protocol for Member/Officer Relations set out in Part 5 of this Constitution.

2.05 Allowances

Councillors will be entitled to receive allowances in accordance with the Members’ Allowances Scheme set out in Part 6 of this Constitution.