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The chapters sets out the key themes of the book and identifies how the office of councillor and the expectations on councillors is shaped by forces such as Globalisation, Europeanisation, urbanisation, austerity and pressure to change exerted by other levels of government. The chapter sets out the importance of the constitutional standing of local government for developing the role of the councillor. It also explains the need to separate the office of councillor from those that hold the office and from the council as an institution, in order to be able to fully explore the purpose and role of the councillor as a local elected representative. The chapter explains the research on which the book is based.

The chapter examines what is known from past studies about the roles of the councillor and reviews, briefly those studies to provide a framework for the rest of the book. It contributes to councillor role theory by exploring how accountability of political leadership is often a missing part of councillors’ repertoire. The chapter explores the gap between councillors’ perceptions of the differing importance of their various roles and their behaviour in contributing to them and accounts for that gap. The chapter questions the neat distinctions often made between the internal council focused work of the councillor and the external community focused work by suggesting that such neat distinctions do not portray the reality of the messiness of the councillors’ experiences.

The chapter examines the strategies councillors develop in dealing with political conflict and devising political action. It introduces the concept of RealLokalPolitik as a framework within which to explore whether and how councillors approach political issues from an ideological, party-centric view or from a pragmatic view based on assessment of what can realistically be achieved in any political circumstances. It also provides two models of councillor action: the corporate and associated councillor – which reflect the relationship councillors have to working inside or outside of the council; and the lay or professional councillor, which assess the nature of the approach councillor take to their office. The chapter provides two vignettes which explore these models in action

The chapter examines the complex set of reasons, stimuli and motivations that lead individuals to place themselves before the voters to become elected councillors. It examines the political recruitment process for councillors and adds to our understanding of that process by acknowledging the role that councillors themselves play in that process identifying three separate pathways to the council: the big-bang, the slow-burn and the resister. The chapter sets out four groups of factors that stimulate individuals into seeking council office: public service, the democratic spirit, ambitional and status and reward and explores the role each play as other-regarding and self-regarding reasons for becoming a councillor. The chapter concludes that, among councillors, other regarding reasons for seeking office are a greater source of stimuli than the self-regarding reasons.

The chapter explores the development of government views – what is termed the official mind – about the office of councillor and the holders of that office. It does that through a review of selected government inquires and commissions to assess whether an official disdain for councillors exists and how, if at all, that displays itself in policy thinking. The chapter explores the nature of such inquires and questions the lack of any fundamental review of the purpose of the office of councillor. The chapter also examines how the local press report on the activities of councillors and provides a categorisation of local media stories. The chapter examines the symbiotic nature of the relationship between councillors and the local press and examines how the nature of reporting shapes the public image of councillors.

The chapter provides a re-thinking of the role of the councillor. It does this in order to strengthen the office as a representative, local governor and decision-maker and to enhance the governing role of the councillor and their community leadership role within their wards and divisions. The chapter considers how the introduction of executive and scrutiny distinctions in the specific tasks of councillors has developed and how scrutiny, in particular, has yet to reach its full governing potential. The chapter provides two models for strengthening the governing role of the councillor and council: one which rests on developments in the scrutiny process; and, the other which rests on a fundamental recasting of the relationship between English local government and the British centre, through the development of a localised state.