Members of Community councils are elected by the local
community. Even if, due to a shortage of nominations, your "seat"
was uncontested, and no actual election took place, your
Constitution provides for nomination and election. If properly
nominated, by two local residents who are on the Electoral
Register, you are as much elected as would be the case in a
contested election.
As a member you may attend meetings, speak and vote, as of right.
You serve for the term allowed by your Community Council's
Constitution. As a Community Council member you should represent
all the community, not any specific group, although inevitably,
different members have particular areas of interest. Such diversity
can add to the collective strength of the Community Council.
Most Community Councils invite community Police officers and
others, such as council officers, to attend and speak to the
meeting by special invitation. Such "guests" can make an important
contribution to the meeting.
As a new member of a community council it is important that you
understand the role you will play in your community from the
outset. This means not simply offering your own views and opinions
on local issues, or taking decisions that are based only on your
own self-interest.
As a community council member, you need to find out and represent
the views of your community. In practice, this involves discussing
issues with people in the community in order to clarify
their views and measure the strength of their feelings on different
topics.
At some point you may find some conflict between your personal
views and interests and those of the community that you represent.
If this happens, it is important to present all views in a balanced
way, stating the most widely held views.
The task of any Community Council is to identify the needs and
aspirations of its community and to take decisions that will lead
to appropriate action in that community. At some point, this might
involve setting priorities on the competing or conflicting needs of
different sections of the community. This means taking a balanced
view of your community's needs and aspirations and giving a fair
hearing to representatives from different interest groups in your
community.