How East Hampshire District Council works

East Hampshire District Council is made up of 44 councillors elected every four years. Councillors are democratically accountable to the residents of their ward. The overriding duty of councillors is to the whole community, but they have a special duty to their constituents, including those who did not vote for them. 

All councillors meet together for full council meetings seven times a year. These are held in public, and are used to decide the council's overall policies and set the budget each year.

Chairman of EHDC

The first council meeting of the year (held in May) is devoted largely to appointing the Council Chairman (currently Cllr John Smith) and Vice Chairman (Cllr Mrs Judy Onslow) and agreeing membership of committees and council representatives on outside bodies.

Political Composition

The current political composition of the council is:
Conservatives - 31
Liberal Democrats - 13

• Leader - Cllr David Parkinson
• Deputy leader - Cllr Patrick Burridge
• Economic Development - Cllr Richard Millard
• Bordon and Whitehill - Cllr Andrew Joy
• Finance and Assets - Cllr Ken Moon
• Housing and Climate Change - Cllr Elizabeth Cartwright
• Lifestyles and Environment - Cllr Jenny Gray
• Communications - Cllr Sam James
• Communities - Cllr Julie Butler
• Young People and Community Safety - Cllr Hilary Ayer 

The Cabinet will be advised and supported in its policy formulation role by a number of Panels, each with a particular area of responsibility and encompassing a broad range of opinion and expertise. In addition it is advised by a number of committees.

The Cabinet has to make decisions which are in line with the council's overall policies and budget. If it wishes to make a decision which is outside the budget or policy framework, this must be referred to the council as a whole to decide.

See 'Annual Appointments 2009-2010' which you can open as a word document at the bottom of the page to find a complete list of annual appointments to committees, chairman/vice chairman and appointments to outside bodies.

Lead Councillors

The Cabinet also appoint Lead Councillors who have specific areas of responsibility:

Shadow Cabinet

• Leader (Cllr Jerry Janes)
• Deputy Leader/ Innovation and Technology (Cllr Sam Payne)
• Development Policy and Planning (Cllr Michael Ashton)
• Development Policy - Whitehill and Bordon (Cllr Zoya Faddy)
• Health and Healthy Lifestyles (Cllr Philip Drury)
• Youth (Cllr Ken Graham)
• Finance (Cllr Tony Ludlow)
• Housing (Cllr Allan Chick)
• Environment (Cllr Adam Carew)

EHDC's Constitution

You can find out a lot more information about how EHDC works by taking a look at our Constitution, which sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people.

• Find your local councillor
• Committees
• Constitution
• Meetings dates, agendas, reports and minutes
• Become a councillor
• Councillor membership of outside bodies

• Electoral Commission