Local Joint Committees

Local Joint Committees (LJCs) enable people across Shropshire to get more involved in the decision making of the Shropshire Council.

There are 28 Local Joint Committees in place, covering the whole of the county. Each committee meets four times a year and gives people a chance to meet with their local councillors and to raise issues of concern about services or problems within their communities.

Local Joint Committees are legally constituted, decision-making committees and comprise of the local Shropshire councillors together with representatives from each of the town and parish councils within the area.

What do the Local Joint Committees do?

They act as a decision maker with regard to the local delivery of a range of services. They are able to determine expenditure of a delegated budget and to prioritise resource allocation in their area.

Local Joint Committees are able to scrutinise local service delivery and to call Shropshire Council's leading members or senior managers to attend meetings and explain decisions affecting their locality. They are also able to hold other public service providers to account and to refer matters of concern about service delivery to the council's scrutiny panels.

The committees act as the formal consultation mechanism for Shropshire Council, over and above that provided by local parish and town councils.

Which areas do the Local Joint Committee's cover?

The 28 Local Joint Committees cover the whole of the county. A map showing all of the LJC areas can be downloaded via the link below.

Where and when are the LJC meetings taking place?

Each Local Committee meets four times a year at a venue within its area. The first meeting in your area took place after the local elections in June 2009 and future meetings take place every three months. Dates of meetings are available on the individual LJC webpages and can be downloaded via an attachment on this page.

How do the meetings work?

Local Joint Committees allow local people to:

• Get involved with democracy at a local level
• Meet with and talk to local councillors and get them to explain their decisions and report back on progress
• Influence ways in which money can be spent in the community

Each committee will give local people the opportunity to:

• Get items which are important to them on the agenda
• Discuss local issues and get information from other public organisations such as the police or primary care trust
• See local decisions taken in an open and transparent way

Who is involved

Local councillors from Shropshire Council and all of the parish and town councils in the local area will have voting rights when it comes to making decisions. Local people will be able to discuss local issues, raise concerns, ask questions about local services and call service providers to account. Other public organisations such as the police, primary care trust, fire and rescue service, could also be invited to the meetings to provide information.

Each Local Joint Committee has a designated lead officer drawn from Shropshire Council's senior management team. The lead officer is responsible for the correct working of the committee and provides support and advice to the chair and members to ensure the smooth running of meetings.

In addition to the lead officer, each committee is supported by a support lead officer, a community officer from the community working team and a committee officer. The community officers will help to maximise local engagement in the work of the Local Joint Committee, support members of the committee to bring forward matters of interest or concern, and help to ensure that strong links are made with community based groups, organisations and activities.

Funding through the Local Joint Committee

Each Local Joint Committee has funding to support community activities within their area. Details of the funds available are on the individual pages for each LJC. Please contact your local community working officer for details of how to apply for funding.

Details of the projects supported by the Local Joint Committees across Shropshire upto December 15th 2009 can be downloaded via the link on this page - LJC Funding Allocations December 2009.

Further details about the Local Joint Committees are also available in the LJC Leaflet which can be downloaded on this page.

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