How councils work
What your council does
Wales has 22 councils, sometimes called local authorities. Each one runs most of the local public services in its area: schools, social care for children and adults, bin collections and recycling, local roads and parking, planning, housing and homelessness, libraries and leisure, licensing, and environmental health.
Some things are run by others. The NHS in Wales is run by health boards. Trunk roads and motorways are the Welsh Government's. Police and fire services have their own authorities. In a national park, the national park authority deals with planning. Wales also has over 700 community and town councils, which are smaller and separate.
Councils are paid for mostly by money from the Welsh Government, and by council tax. Business rates are collected by councils but pooled across Wales and shared out by the Welsh Government as part of that money.
Who decides
Councillors are elected by the people of each ward to represent them. Welsh council elections are held every five years; the next are in May 2027. People aged 16 and over can vote, including foreign citizens who live in Wales legally.
Every Welsh council is run by a leader and a cabinet. The councillors choose a leader, usually from the largest party or group. The leader picks a cabinet of up to ten councillors, each responsible for an area such as education or housing. The cabinet makes most of the big day-to-day decisions.
All the councillors together form the full Council. It sets the budget and council tax each year, agrees the council's main plans and its constitution, and chooses the leader.
Council staff, called officers, give advice, write the reports councillors read, and make many routine decisions themselves under powers the council gives them. These are called delegated decisions.
Keeping decisions in check
Councillors who are not in the cabinet sit on scrutiny committees. These question cabinet members and officers, look into how services are working, and make recommendations. If they think a cabinet decision is wrong, they can call it in before it takes effect and ask the cabinet to think again.
A governance and audit committee checks the council's finances and how it manages risk. A standards committee deals with how councillors behave. Councillors must follow a code of conduct, and anyone can complain about a councillor or about a service to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
How meetings work
About a week before a meeting, the council publishes an agenda: the list of items, with a report for each one written by officers. Reports usually end with recommendations, which are what officers suggest councillors decide.
At the meeting, councillors discuss each item and decide, often by voting. Most meetings are open to the public, and many are broadcast online. A few items are discussed in private when they involve confidential information, such as someone's personal details or a contract being negotiated. These are often called Part II or exempt items.
Afterwards the council publishes minutes. The minutes are the official record of what was decided, usually written as 'RESOLVED that...'. They don't record everything that was said.
Declarations of interest
At the start of each meeting, councillors must say if they have an interest in anything on the agenda: for example a job, a property, a club they belong to, or a family member affected.
A personal interest is one they must declare but which doesn't stop them taking part. A prejudicial interest is one a reasonable person would think strong enough to affect their judgement. A councillor with a prejudicial interest usually leaves the room for that item and takes no part in the decision, unless the council's standards committee has given them a dispensation.
Have your say
Contact your councillors. They represent everyone in their ward, whether or not you voted for them. Find them with your postcode on Local Record, then email or phone them. Say what the issue is, where, and what you would like them to do.
Go to a meeting, or watch it. Meetings are listed on Local Record and on the council's website, with the time and place. Every council must broadcast meetings of the full Council, and many also broadcast the Cabinet and planning committee.
Speak at a planning committee. Most councils let people who support or object to a planning application speak at the committee meeting that decides it, if they register in advance. Check the council's website for the deadline.
Ask a question or start a petition. Every Welsh council must have a petition scheme, and many let members of the public ask questions at full Council meetings. Each council must publish a public participation strategy explaining how people can take part.
Respond to consultations. Councils consult on budgets, school changes, local plans and more. Consultations are listed on each council's website.
If something has gone wrong, complain to the council first. If you're not satisfied with the answer, you can go to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
Words councils use
What the terms in council papers mean.
- Agenda
- The list of items to be discussed at a meeting, published about a week before, with reports attached.
- Minutes
- The official record of a meeting: who attended, interests declared and what was decided. Usually published a few weeks afterwards.
- Resolved
- The word minutes use for a decision: 'RESOLVED that the report be approved' means the meeting decided to approve it.
- Recommendation
- What a report suggests councillors decide. Councillors can accept, change or reject it.
- Full Council
- A meeting of all the council's councillors. It sets the budget and council tax and makes the biggest decisions.
- Cabinet
- The leader and a small group of senior councillors who make most major decisions. Sometimes called the executive.
- Leader
- The councillor chosen by the full Council to lead it, usually from the largest party or group.
- Cabinet member
- A councillor in the cabinet responsible for an area such as education, housing or finance. Sometimes called a portfolio holder.
- Scrutiny committee
- A committee of councillors outside the cabinet that examines the cabinet's decisions and how services are run, and makes recommendations.
- Call-in
- When scrutiny councillors ask for a cabinet decision to be reviewed before it takes effect.
- Officer
- A member of council staff. Officers write reports, give advice and carry out decisions.
- Delegated decision
- A decision made by an officer or a single cabinet member under powers the council has given them, without a committee meeting.
- Part II or exempt item
- An item discussed in private because it involves confidential information, such as personal details or commercial terms.
- Quorum
- The minimum number of councillors who must be present for a meeting to make decisions.
- Motion
- A proposal put to a meeting for a decision. A notice of motion is one a councillor gives notice of in advance.
- Personal interest
- A link between a councillor and an agenda item that they must declare, but which doesn't stop them taking part.
- Prejudicial interest
- An interest strong enough that the councillor should leave the room and take no part in that decision, unless the standards committee has given them a dispensation.
- Ward
- The area a councillor is elected to represent. Larger wards elect two or more councillors.
- Local development plan
- The council's long-term plan for land use: where new homes, jobs and services can go.
- Section 106 agreement
- An agreement with a developer to pay for or provide things a development needs, such as affordable homes, play areas or school places.
- Band D
- The middle council tax band, used to compare council tax between councils. Other bands pay a set fraction more or less.
- Revenue and capital
- Revenue spending pays for running services day to day. Capital spending pays for things that last, such as buildings and roads.
- Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
- An independent office that investigates complaints about public services in Wales, and about councillors breaking the code of conduct.
- Community and town councils
- The smallest level of local government, covering a town or village. They are separate from the county or county borough council.
- Public participation strategy
- A document every Welsh council must publish, setting out how people can find out about and take part in its decisions.