ABOUT
YOUR COUNCIL

The Council is empowered by law to make decisions on many matters of importance to our local community. The full council (a meeting of all council members) is responsible for making all decisions, however in practice, many of these are made in smaller groups of councillors or council officers (paid staff). Neither the mayor nor the councillors have the legal authority to individually act or make decisions on behalf of the council

Every council must publish:

• details of when key decisions will be taken
• papers of meetings – at least 5 working days beforehand
• minutes of meetings – showing the decisions that were made

Salisbury City Council signed up to the Civility & Respect Pledge at the meeting of Full Council on Monday 26 June 2023.

Throughout many Town and Parish Councils there are growing concerns about the impact of bullying, harassment, and intimidation on local councils, councillors, clerks and council staff and the effectiveness of local councils. For this reason, the National Association of Local Councils has been working with the Society of Local Council Clerks to put civility and respect at the top of the agenda and start a culture change for the local council sector.

Salisbury City Council has signed the pledge to demonstrate it is committed to standing up to poor behaviour across the sector and driving through positive changes that support civil and respectful conduct.

The Council has also signed up the Local Government Association model Code of Conduct. The LGA Code of Conduct is designed to protect the democratic role of councillors, encourage good conduct and safeguard the public’s trust in local government. It has been adopted by Wiltshire Council and other parish councils in Wiltshire.