Becoming a county councillor

County councillors speak up for the people who live in their division, and provide a vital link between their community and the council. As well as being an advocate for local residents and signposting them to the right support and advice, they keep people informed about the council issues that affect them.

What does Lincolnshire County Council do?

Lincolnshire is the fourth largest county in England, covering more than 3,600 square miles. Lincolnshire County Council supports a population of over 768,000 people.

The county council invests more than £650m a year in its vital services, including £206m in supporting adult care and community wellbeing, and £114m for children’s services, to support people to live life to the full.

We pay for around 8,000 beds in long-term and short-term care settings, and in excess of four million hours of commissioned community-based support. In the coming year, we will provide support for more than 4,500 carers across Lincolnshire.

We are currently managing over 3,440 open children's social care cases, this includes 408 on a Child Protection Plan and 791 children in care. We support over 107,000 school-aged chidlren and young people in Lincolnshire, and around 400 primary and secondary schools and academies. We help around 20,000 pupils get to and from school or college each day.

We manage over 5,500 miles of road to keep Lincolnshire moving, repairing in excess of 100,000 potholes each year. We help over 1,700 of the county's businesses to access the support they need to thrive.

The county council disposes of over 350,000 tonnes of waste and recycling each year, and operates 11 household waste recycling centres across the county. We run 15 core libraries and 34 community hub libraries, and support more than 1,500 adults to get a new qualification through our adult learning courses each year.

As the fire authority, we operate 38 fire stations, ready to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Lincolnshire also has seven district councils which carry out separate duties alongside county council services, and have their own elected councillors.

The role of a county councillor

Lincolnshire is divided into 70 areas of roughly equal population called ‘divisions’, with one county councillor representing each.

Councillors represent everyone in their division, whether they voted for them or not. Many councillors also take roles on the council’s committees where they help scrutinise the work of Lincolnshire County Council and other agencies.

The councillors make decisions and help set the policy and vision for the area. The decisions are implemented by permanent council staff, council officers, who deliver services on a day-to-day basis.

Our councillors will often take queries from people in their area and raise them with council staff on their behalf. This could be about fixing a footpath, help to get support for an elderly resident, find out more about services for families, or raise a query with Trading Standards.

Who can be a county councillor?

To be a councillor you need to be:  

• British or a citizen of the Commonwealth (you may also be eligible as a citizen of the European Union, however the criteria have changed now that the UK has left the European Union. Please check on the GOV.UK website for advice about EU citizens’ voting and candidacy rights in local elections).
• At least 18 years old.
• Registered to vote in the area or have lived, worked, or owned property there for at least 12 months before the election.

Some things exclude you from being able to stand as a councillor, including if you work for the council, have a politically restricted post at another local authority, or if you have certain unspent convictions.

Can I be a councillor alongside my job?

Many people work alongside their council duties. By law, your employer must allow you to take a reasonable amount of time off work to perform your duties as a councillor, but they do not have to pay you for any missed time.

Our formal council and committee meetings take place on weekdays during normal office hours, so you should consider the effect attending these might have on your work. There may also be other meetings, training or events taking place during normal working hours too that you will need to attend, as well as case work, parish council meetings and surgeries outside of these hours.

Standing in this upcoming election

On Thursday 1 May, Lincolnshire residents will have the chance to elect their county councillors. This is done every four years.

If you are interested in becoming an independent candidate (not in a political party), you can get resources and advice from the Local Government Association’s Independent Office.

To stand for a political party, you’ll need to be a member of the party, get involved locally and go through their selection process to be put forward as their candidate for election. You can find out more on each party’s website.

Depending on which party you are interested in, this can take up to about a year, so please contact your political party as soon as you can to start getting involved.

Once you are ready to stand you can get nomination papers from the election team at the district council for the area in which you wish to stand.