Become a Parish Councillor   

Read the Good Councillor's Guide, with essential infomation for Parish Council

 “Anyone who lives or works in South Northamptonshire can become a Councillor, and standing as a candidate in the local elections is a real way to make a difference in the local community.

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1. The role of a Councillor is to represent the views of local residents. They are there to make sure that the council’s services meet the needs of everyone who lives, visits and works in South Northamptonshire and its individual Parishes.

2. There are 42 Councillors for South Northamptonshire Council, representing 27 Wards (Wards are represented by one, two or three Councillors). Across South Northamptonshire there are 72 Parish Councils with a total of 580 seats to be contested.

3. If the number of candidates standing is less than (or equal to) the number of seats assigned to that Ward or Parish, the candidates will be elected uncontested, and a vote for those seats will not take place.

 E-learning: new online tools to help community leaders

On 1 April 2011 the National Association of Local Councils launched the first ever suite of e-learning courses aimed at supporting local (parish and town) councillors. The new e-learning courses are a unique online one-stop shop for introductory training for local councillors and have been purposely developed as part of the National Training Strategy (NTS) to compliment existing tools and provision.

Working with Learning Pool, a leading e-learning organisation, we have developed a website designed to house interactive learning, which you can find at http://www.ntselearning.co.uk//

Access to the e-learning (hosted in our Dynamic Learning Environment) is free and whilst all users need to create an account, there is no fee for using it. On the homepage look to the top right-hand corner to ‘create an account’. A helpful ‘top tips’ guide to accessing the courses is also on the homepage to assist you.

There are currently 2 induction courses available: one for recently elected local councillors (or experienced local councillors who want to update their knowledge); and a bite-sized module for people considering becoming a councillor. This first course consists of five modules, all based on the sections of the Good Councillors Guide, with a short quiz at the end of each section. So please sign up and have a go!

This new suite of courses is part of the broader package of training available through the revised NTS. The new Strategy aims to encourage a variety of training to suit individual and local needs and circumstances. Hence the e-learning modules compliment but do not replace or compete with other routes by which local councillors might access training and development. It is intended that e-learning will provide an introductory level of training that will encourage and enable more local councillors to take part in comprehensive face-to-face training and view the online courses as just one element of the training essential to becoming an effective and good councillor.

If you are having problems with the site please let Learning Pool support know via telephone on 0845 543 6033 or via email at support@learningpool.com

For more information about the e-learning courses and the NTS, contact Victoria Pymm on 020 7290 0314 or via email at victoria.pymm@nalc.gov.uk