The nuts and bolts of any political campaign will be your understanding of what the authority you are running for has been doing; has achieved and where it has not been doing as well.
The key facts that you will require, along with the history of how decisions have been made and who was involved will be available as a public record.
There is an expectation that government at all levels will be transparent with its decision making and policy development. As such, the records of public meetings and those involving committees and sub committees are usually available on the website of the authority.
This means that you can access the information you need very easily and usually with just a few clicks.
Suggestions for reading:
- The Agendas of Meetings
- The Minutes of Meetings
- Reports for Public Consultations
- The Council’s Strategy Documents
- All other documents which have been publicly released.
- The attendance records and voting history for any sitting Councillor you may be running against as a candidate in a future election
Local Authorities may now have many years worth of historical documents available online. As a sensible rule, just read up on documents covering the work of the authority during its past 4 year term, unless there is a significant issue which you would like to see addressed, which has been ‘active’ for longer and it will help to obtain research from the start.
If information you need to access is not available publicly, it may be protected, or otherwise available through a FOI Request. (Freedom of Information) for which an administration fee may be payable. If you wish to access information in this way, you should contact the authority involved.
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