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5 articles
Council services are often delivered through contracts that residents never see in full. This toolkit explains how to use FOI to trace suppliers, subcontractors and conflicts of interest, and how to turn the results into a local accountability campaign.
Parish and town councils are the most local tier of democracy in England, and their agendas are often overlooked. This guide maps seven decisions taken in village halls and explains how to attend, question and stand for election.
Council decisions are often made in rooms most residents never enter. This three-meeting experiment helps you find agendas, attend scrutiny and full council sessions, and judge whether public questions are heard — or merely recorded.
Local decisions about your street are usually recorded somewhere public, but the trail is scattered across committee systems, forward plans and officer registers. This practical audit shows how to find the decision, read the evidence and request the missing paperwork.
Voting is the bluntest instrument of accountability and the least frequently used. This guide sets out five practical tools — public records, written questions, committee evidence, freedom of information and the narrow route of recall — that constituents can use in any ordinary week of the parliamentary year.