Council information

Breckland is a District Council

Districts are the most recognisable form of local government in large parts of England. For those areas which retain two-tier local government, districts usually form the lower tier of that arrangement, with counties forming the upper tier.

Districts tend to have responsibility for a number of areas, including:

Tax collection (Council Tax and Non-Domestic Rates)
Leisure services
Refuse collection
Housing
Planning
Arts and Entertainment
Environmental health

Each district raises taxes from residents on behalf of itself, and the County Council, through the Council Tax. It also raises income from business through the Non-Domestic Rates system, which is co-ordinated nationally.

Political structure of the council

The council is composed of 49 councillors elected every four years to represent the people of Breckland.
All councillors meet together as the council. Meetings of the council are normally open to the public. Here, councillors decide the council's overall policies and set the budget each year. The council holds the Executive and committees to account.
The council is currently controlled by the Conservative Group.
There are currently 31 Conservative Councillors, 12 Labour Councillors, 5 Independent/Green Councillors and 1 Independent Councillor.
A new Chairman of the Council is elected at the Annual Meeting of the council in May. The current Chairman of the council isCouncillor Keith Gilbert.
The Cabinet is made up of the Leader, Deputy Leader and portfolio holders. Each portfolio holder has specific responsibilities over an area of the council's activities, such as Customer, Environmental Health, Growth and Finance.
The Leader of the council is Sam Chapman-Allen.

Decision making

The Executive is the part of the council responsible for most day-to-day decisions. The Executive is made up of the Leader and a Cabinet of eight councillors whom he/she appoints.

When decisions are to be discussed or made, these are published in theKey Decision Plan (opens new window) in so far as they can be anticipated. If these decisions are to be discussed with council officers at a meeting of the Executive, this will generally be open for the public to attend. Exceptions to this are when personal or confidential matters are being discussed.

The Executive has to make decisions in line with the council's overall policies and budget. If it wishes to make a decision outside the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the council as a whole to decide.