In his latest regular column, Maldon District Council Chairman, Councillor Mark Heard, talks about the answer to the question of 'which council does what' in the area covering Maldon, Burnham-on-Crouch and the villages of the Dengie Peninsula.

"I am often asked "what are you doing about the potholes in my road?" or "why do you keep digging the same roads up time and time again?" or "what are you doing about the street light in my road that's been out for months?" and many other questions which are not actually dealt with by Maldon District Council.

"Let me explain further: There are three tiers of local government in this area – county councils, district councils and parish/town/village councils.

Essex, which contains 1.842 million inhabitants (2019 figures) has Essex County Council (ECC), based in Chelmsford, although not to be confused with Chelmsford City Council which is like a district or borough Council. The main responsibilities of ECC are adult social care and health, roads, streets (including potholes and streetlighting!), transport, recycling (including our refuse tips), schools, libraries, children, young people and families, births and deaths and more.

"You can visit the Essex County Council website for more information using the link here.

"The county of Essex is divided into 12 districts/boroughs/cities with two unitary councils (Southend and Thurrock). Maldon District Council (MDC) is just one of the 12 with a population of more than 64,500 people (2018 figures). It is further broken down into wards with 31 Maldon district councillors to represent you. Most wards have two councillors to represent around 3,000 people per ward or about 1,500 people if you have one councillor.

"A full list of our services can be found at the link here and I encourage you to have a quick glance at the website. As you are reading this far, MDC deals with business rates/council tax and business support payments, housing (including homelessness), planning, licensing, domestic waste, environmental health, elections, parking tickets and permits within our car parks and some residents parking restrictions, sports centres, parks and recreation areas, river enforcement and moorings, cemeteries, noise complaints, pest control, public toilets and street sweeping.

"There are also town councils and parish councils supporting smaller communities, plus we also have one village council in Tillingham. These councls are consultees for planning matters in their area, they deal with community projects, allotments and some environmental issues, some bus shelters, some footpath lighting, and many local events such as Remembrance services, Christmas lights and fayres.

"Take a look at your local town or parish Council's website to see all they have to offer and to see who your local representatives are.

"Finally, to answer the questions at the top of this article, what do I do about streetlighting, potholes and roadworks? I report them through the Essex County Council website just like anyone can!

"Thank you for reading this. Until next time, take care."

Councillor Mark S. Heard