The Leader of the county council, Cllr John Taylor, talks to a member of the public about the council's magazine

County council celebrates Local Democracy Week

Staffordshire County Council is joining other councils across the UK in celebrating Local Democracy Week this week.

A host of workshops and roadshows are being held to encourage people of all ages to find out more about how to get involved in the local decisions that are made about education, roads, health, community safety and much more.

Staffordshire County Council's three political leaders have joined together to call on residents not lose their voice and stay involved in local decision-making.

Philip Atkins, Conservative Leader, said: 'County councillors work hard to represent the views of their local communities. This doesn't mean that residents can't get involved in decision-making in the four years between each election. We want the county council to make a real difference to people locally - this could be through providing funds for small local initiatives, to encouraging people to get more involved in how our services are delivered in their local area".

Christina Jebb, Liberal Democrat Leader, added: "Lots of people do get involved particularly when it comes to telling us about issues that are close to their heart, such as highway problems. However lots more people don't, mainly because they don't know how or they feel their views won't be listened to. There are now lots of ways they can get involved - the simplest being by just talking to their local county councillor'.

Labour and County Council Leader, John Taylor, talked about more ways people can get involved: "In the last year we have worked hard to get the county council out and about into your local area. This has been through Councillor Question Time events or using our mobile unit. This website now also has a new user-friendly area that you can visit any time to get details of your local county councillor and when and where you can talk to them".

"The website also provides details of how community groups can apply for a Local Member Initiative Scheme grant to start-up or continue local projects or initiatives that are of benefit to the people that live there".