The Council has 51 councillors. The City is divided in to 17 areas called 'wards', each represented by three councillors. View information about your Councillors.

If you are not sure which ward you live in, telephone 01332 255367 to find out who your local councillors are.

Councillors are normally elected for four years. Elections in Derby are 'by thirds' - this means that one councillor is elected in each ward every year for three years - there are no elections in the fourth year. The next election is due in 2008 but there is not one in 2009. Find out more about elections in Derby.

How the Council Makes Decisions

The full Council of all 51 Councillors decides major policy and sets the amount of the Council Tax - the tax you pay every year that helps to pay for council services.

The main policy of the Council - the principles that determine what it does and how much it spends on what are the ‘Budget and Policy Framework’ and the Council makes most decisions using this. After that the Council has a 'Cabinet and Scrutiny' system.

A smaller group of councillors, known as the Council Cabinet, make most of the other decisions. 

Find out more about the Council Cabinet.

Other councillors are members of Scrutiny Commissions - these look at the Cabinet's decisions and decide whether they think that the Council policies are the best thing for Derby. View more information about Overview and Scrutiny in Derby. There is also a Planning Control Committee that decides on . Most of these meetings are held in the evening.

There are also Licensing Committees and sub-committees which deal with a number of licensing issues such as those for entertainment or for taxi drivers. Because these deal with individuals, a lot of the time these meetings are in private; most of them in the daytime.

How you can find out what is going on

All meetings of the Council, the Council Cabinet, the Scrutiny Commissions and other committees are open to the public and you can attend them if you want to. At some meetings you may also speak To help you decide if you want to attend a meeting, the agenda listing the things to be discussed is also public.

Agendas are available to view online or you can ask to see a copy of the agenda a week before the meeting by calling Derby 255472. A schedule of meetings( 24kb) is published each year which shows you when meetings are scheduled to take place up to July next year.

The Cabinet also publishes a forward plan every month. This explains what the Cabinet is going to talk about over the next few months.

Find out about Councillors membership of committees such as Council Cabinet, Scrutiny Commissions, Area Panels and other Committees.