This is NOT an exhaustive list but rather one that most people’s concerns are about and who you should contact.
West Lancs Borough Council
Abandoned Cars
Noise Nuisance
Litter
Fly-tipping
Overflowing bins
Dog bins / dog fouling
Household Waste & Bin collections
Housing, rent and council tax
Planning applications / disputes
Borough Councillors are paid an allowance of £4,800 (approx) per year and their PRIMARY role is to represent the residents of the ward they are elected in.
A Borough Councillor should act as a gateway between you and the Borough Council. If you are unsure who to contact at the council or if you’d like someone to fight your corner, you can ask your Borough Councillor to help you. They should signpost you to the correct place and / or help represent you if necessary.
Borough Councillors do a lot more than just respond to emails & calls or texts from the residents of their wards. They have to attend 5 full council meetings per year and most are also on committees and have to attend regular committee meetings too.
Lancashire County Council
Grit bins & gritting
Potholes
Subways
Blocked Drains / Flooding
Street Lighting
Recycling Centre
Blue Badges
Health & Social Care
Schools
County Councillors are paid an allowance of £10,800 (approx) per year and their PRIMARY role is to represent the residents of the division they were elected in.
A County Councillor should act as a gateway between you and the County Council. If you are unsure who to contact at the council or if you’d like someone to fight your corner, you can ask your County Councillor to help you. They should signpost you to the correct place and / or help represent you if necessary.
Understanding the difference between Borough & County issues is important to make sure you contact the RIGHT person to help with your queries.
It’s already been pointed out that contacting Borough councillors about County issues & Vice-versa is a huge strain on their time and could hinder them from doing the CORRECT things for us. Some Borough or County Councillors WILL help you even if they aren’t elected in your area but that will also put a HUGE strain on their time and will also give the elected councillor a free ride, which isn’t cool.
We have some Borough & County councillors that work hard for their residents and unfortunately we also have some that don’t do much at all.
Borough and County Councillors SHOULD represent EVERY constituent of their area, regardless of whether the resident voted for them or not.
The easiest way to know who is working for you and who isn’t…Contact your councillors with concerns or queries and see if they actually help. We need councillors who follow through and follow up.
If you aren’t happy with them, that’s what the elections are for. You can show your frustrations at the ballot box. If your councillor is going above & beyond, let us know about it. We really appreciate hearing when councillors are doing great things.If you don’t know who your local Borough or County Councillors are you can use this link to find out:
https://democracy.westlancs.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?bcr=1
Add your postcode and it should show your Borough Councillors and also give a link to your County Councillor too. Clicking on any of them will show their full contact details.