Councillors

Who's Who

Chester City Council consists of 60 democratically elected members and a team of professional employees.  You can view information about individual councillors either by:

• Councillor by Ward
• Councillor by Party
• Councillors A-Z

or if you prefer you can download the full list of Councillors names and addresses (41kb) .

You can contact your councillor   using our online form

How your Councillors are Elected

Chester district is spilt into 31 electoral units called wards. Councillors are elected to represent the needs of their individual areas, the needs of the District and to help manage the Council.

Each Councillor represents approximately 1600 electors and one, two or three councillors represent wards depending upon the number of electors who live in them.

Councillors are elected for a four year term of office. Each year one third of the 60 retire and fresh elections are held. Retiring Members are eligible to stand for election again.

The electoral cycle is therefore over four years with a third of the city council retiring in three of the years.

In the fourth year of the cycle the Members of Cheshire County Council (External Link) retire (County Councillors also represent Chester District)

In Chester there is a two-tier system of local government, which means  that local services are divided up between the County Council and the City Council. The County Council provides some services (such as education, social services, libraries and strategic planning) whilst the City Council provide more local services such as collecting the Council Tax and Non-domestic Rates, and carry out other services (refuse collection, planning, environmental health etc.).

In two-tier areas, voters elect councillors to serve on both authorities. For details of your local councillors see the A-Z Chester City Councillors and the  A-Z of Cheshire County Councillors (external link)

There is also another level of elected local government - Parish Councils

The Lord Mayor

The Chairman of the Council and the City's 1st Citizen is the Lord Mayor of Chester.

The Lord Mayor is elected by the Councillors to serve for one year in that capacity during which time he or she remains a Member of the Council.

The Lord Mayor is assisted in carrying out civic and ceremonial duties by the Sheriff and the Deputy Lord Mayor who are also Councillors and are elected for one year to those civic appointment. 

The Executive

The Council appoints an Executive, which is responsible for most day-today decisions. The Executive is made up of the Leader and six other members. The Executive's Forward Plan, published each month, details major issues for decision or discussion. These meetings are open to the public except when the matters are personal or confidential. The Executive must make decisions in line with the Council's overall policies and budget. Matters outside the budget or policy framework must be referred to the Full Council to decide.