Councils are democratically elected. Residents elect councillors to represent the area of the City in which they live – called a ward. The City of Edinburgh Council has 58 Councillors.
Currently they belong to the following political party groups:
- Scottish Liberal Democrat - 17
- Labour - 15
- Scottish Nationalist - 12
- Conservative - 11
- Green - 3
Elections are held every 4 years. The next elections are in May 2011.
This section describes how the Council of 58 elected members is organised to take decisions and scrutinise the work of Council Departments.
In June 2007, the City of Edinburgh Council introduced a new streamlined committee structure based on the following:
- the full Council
- Policy and Strategy Committee
- Executive Committees
- Audit Committee
- committees for planning, regulatory and other purposes
- Neighbourhood Partnerships
The Council also appoints members to serve on:
Other Committees
These committees deal with more specialised aspects of Council business.
- Planning Committee
- Development Management Sub Committee of the Planning Committee
- Regulatory Committee
- Licensing Sub-Committee of the Regulatory Committee.
Administration of Trust Funds
- Pensions and Trusts
- Committee on the Royal High Endowment
- Committee on the Jean F Watson Bequest.
Appeals committees
- Committee on Discretionary Rating Relief Appeals
- Personnel Appeals Committee
- Committee on Pupil/Student Support
- Placing in Schools Appeal Committee
- Social Work Complaints Review Committee.
Recruitment committees
- Recruitment Committee
- Head Teacher Appointments Committee.
Committee structure diagram (PDF 31kB).
The public have legal rights of access to these meetings and to inspect the papers circulated for discussion and their minutes:
for a summary of rights click here
to access agendas, minutes and reports.
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