North Yorkshire County Council consists of 72 County Councillors, each of whom represents the residents of one of the electoral divisions in the County. Elections are held every four years, the latest being in June 2009.

The next County Council elections will be held in 2013.

If you are dissatisfied with, or wish to get more information about, a service provided by the County Council, your local County Councillor can advise you. They may direct you to someone who can help with the issue, or may progress the case on your behalf.

As community leaders, County Councillors seek to address issues of concern arising in their division and can put forward proposals to improve services in the division.

Councillor conduct

County Councillors are the elected representatives of North Yorkshire, who make the most important decisions on behalf of the authority.

North Yorkshire County Council believes in a strong ethical organisational culture. It aims to promote the highest levels of conduct by its members and officers, to increase public trust in the delivery of its vision and its objectives, by:

• maintaining openness and transparency in conducting its business;
• being accountable for all it says and does;
• ensuring that everyone knows what is expected of them;
• offering appropriate training and development programmes; and
• promoting the work of its Standards Committee.

A number of safeguards are in place, through the 'ethical framework', to ensure that when Councillors make decisions, they do so in the public interest and without regard to personal advantage. The requirements relating to local Councillors are tighter than those for Members of Parliament.

Find out more about councillor conduct in the pages below.

Becoming a councillor

Elections for all 72 seats on the County Council are held in all electoral divisions every four years on the first Thursday in May. County Councillors represent electoral divisions on the County Council whereas District Councillors represent wards on their Councils.

You can be a candidate if you are 18 or over, and are on the electoral register, or have lived, worked or owned a property in the area for at least the past 12 months. You may be disqualified as a candidate if you work for the Council or hold a politically restricted post with another local authority. Being the subject of a bankruptcy restriction order or a previous criminal conviction with a three-month or more prison sentence within the last five years would also disqualify you as a candidate.

Most candidates are nominated through a political party. However, individuals are able to stand in their own right. Before you can be accepted as a candidate you must get one person to agree to propose your nomination, another person to agree to second the proposal and eight other persons to assent to your nomination. All must be received by the Deputy Returning Officer by the date fixed.

The Chief Executives of the seven District Councils in the County act as Deputy Returning Officers for the County Council elections and administer those elections on the County Council's behalf. For details of election processes and timetables please access the website of the relevant District Council for the electoral division you are interested in.

	Committee agendas, minutes and reports Access upcoming and previous committee agendas, minutes and reports here.
	Find my councillor You can find details of your local councillor using our a-z list or postcode finder.
	Report a compliment or complaint to the council You can use our online form to make a compliment or complaint to the council.