Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Member definition

What does Member mean? In local government practice, a member is an elected councillor of a local authority. They are normally chosen by the local government electors of a ward or local electoral area; casual vacancies are filled by by-election or co-option (including party nomination in Northern Ireland). Legislation in each jurisdiction uses “member” to denote councillors, including the Local Government Act 1972 (England and Wales), the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014, and the Local Government Act 2001 (Ireland). Key legal features and usage: - Participates and votes at meetings of the council and its committees, representing constituents in decision‑making. -...

Local authority councillors: elections, terms of office, qualification and disqualification, and politically restricted posts (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

Council members for a principal area

Local government electors within a principal area choose its council members. Non-metropolitan counties are divided into electoral divisions, while metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts are arranged into wards, each electing a specified number of councillors. The electoral arrangements for every principal council are reviewed periodically, from time to time, or when a review is requested. A separate election is held for each electoral division or ward. Councillors serve a term of four years in duration...

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Philip McCourt

Bevan Brittan LLP

Philip joined Top 100 law firm Bevan Brittan in 2022 following a distinguished career in local government. He is qualified as both a solicitor and chartered secretary and began his local government career in 1988. He was first appointed as a monitoring officer, head of legal services and member of an authority’s senior management team in 2000.He has since gone on to work for and on behalf of a number of local authorities and has additionally led on a number of projects for wider local government, such as designing the ethical governance toolkit for the Local Government Association and in leading on a number of best practice documents, including the code of corporate governance for interests in local authority companies and the model member planning member code, which was described by the UK Supreme Court in 2017 as providing sound practical...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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