What do councillors do?

Structures have been put in place to enable councillors to drive forward the Council's devolution programme and locality agenda. In short, councillors are closely involved in local decision making and can influence policy. This is partly achieved by councillors networking with District Councils and their elected members.

The County Council is responsible for services such as Education, Social Services, Highways and Transportation and Public Protection. Further information about the County Council and its services can be found at http://www.lancashire.gov.uk. Councillors make or review decisions on how these services are provided. This often requires councillors to attend formal meetings that are usually held during the day, and so, if you are working you will need an understanding employer.

Some councillors are appointed to represent the council on outside organisations such as local partnerships or charities and public bodies.

For most meetings there will be papers which you will need to read beforehand.

All councillors will be expected to deal with issues and problems brought to them by their constituents, even if these do not involve the work of the County Council. Councillors tend to receive a lot of mail via the post or electronic emails and telephone calls which can be made at any time of day or night!