How to become a councillor

To become a Borough councillor you have to be elected to one of the 31 seats on the Council. The Borough is divided into 15 wards and each of those has two councillors, except Portchester East which has three councillors as it has a bigger population.  Elections are held in alternate years, with one seat in each ward available for election (sometimes two in Portchester East). Once elected, a councillor will generally serve for 4 years. For details of the next election, select the link from the menu above.

So how do you stand for election?

Firstly, you must qualify for election by satisfying certain criteria. You must be a British, Commonwealth or Irish citizen or a citizen of another member state of the European Community, who has attained the age of 18 years and you must either be registered as an elector in the Borough of Fareham; or have occupied as owner or tenant, land or other premises in the Borough; or your principal or only place of work for the past 12 months has been in the Borough; or you must have lived in the Borough for the past 12 months. There are certain grounds which would disqualify you from seeking election, such as being adjudged bankrupt or being convicted of any offence with a sentence of imprisonment in the past 5 years. Full details are available from Election Services at the address given below.

Having qualified for election, you would need to be nominated at the appropriate time by a proposer, seconder and eight other assentors who live in the ward for which you wish to seek election. The appropriate time is when Notice of Election is given, usually towards the end of March ready for elections in the first week of May. You need to be aware that there is a strict time-table in force so anyone interested in seeking election would be advised to contact the Elections Office for a nomination pack early in March. If you wished to stand for a registered political party you would need to be authorised by that party to do so, otherwise you would have to stand as an Independent or with no description at all.

Having been successfully nominated, you would likely have to proceed to an election in the first week of May. There are certain rules which must be observed in conducting your campaign and there is a limit on how much money you may spend. Full details can be supplied by the Elections Office.

For more information about elections, select Election Services.

For further advice or a nomination pack contact the Elections Office at the Civic Offices, Fareham, PO16 7AZ, telephone 01329 824585 or e-email electionservices@fareham.gov.uk.