The council is a big organisation which runs a whole range of services on your behalf. On these pages you’ll find out how the council works and how to find your way around it.

The borough is divided into 20 wards, each of which elects three councillors. Each councillor is elected for four years, and every year one councillor in each ward stands for election. In the fourth year there are no elections. The council is run by an Executive of 10 councillors, who have responsibility for individual areas.

Officers are the paid employees of the council who implement the decisions and polices taken by the Executive and councillors.

In the pages you’ll be able to find out more about how the council works and its policies; your rights to get information from the council; how the council performs, and information about the borough. The council also regularly asks residents and other users of its services what they think about council services, and you can find the results here.

The council can help you in so many ways. Please click on the links in the ‘See also’ section below or view our factsheets:

• Your council (PDF 36KB)
• Your town (PDF 38KB)