Community council elections 2023

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Register to Vote. Community Council Elections 2023Fife’s Returning Officer (RO) intends to hold the next Community Council elections for the region on Thursday 28 September.

Anyone interested in standing as a candidate for their local Community Council will have to be registered to vote by 10 July. Everyone else has until 10 August to register to vote.

Community Council elections are held every four years in Fife, giving local people the opportunity to have a voice in their neighbourhoods. This year elections are scheduled for 28 September.

Fife currently has 85 active Community Councils out of a potential 105. And Lindsay Thomson, Fife’s Depute Returning Officer, is keen to encourage more people to make a real difference in their local areas.

Lindsay commented: “Community Councils are an important part of giving our communities a voice. They can provide Councillors and statutory bodies with the grassroots viewpoint and opinions that are essential to shaping services and making decisions about issues that matter to local people.

“Some Community Councils are more active than others and some areas don’t even have one. New blood is always needed if groups like this are to grow and develop.

“If you want to stand you must be 16 years old or over, be registered to vote and have lived in the community council area you want to stand in for at least a year.

“I would really like to see Community Councils in all 105 locations and would encourage anyone who is interested in being an independent advocate for their community to make sure they register to vote by 10 July so they can get involved in the upcoming elections.”

A Community Council is a voluntary organisation set up by statute by the local authority – in this case Fife Council. The local authority is responsible for running the elections and dealing with the notification of election, nomination papers and the results. The Community Council is run by local residents to act on behalf of its area. As the most local tier of elected representation, Community Councils play an important role in local democracy.