Your local council effects your day to day life in a number of ways that you may not have realised. From collecting your bins, deciding taxes and building leisure facilities, the powers of district and borough councils are surprisingly extensive.

But the low turnout at local elections suggests a lot of people are not overly concerned with the makeup of their local council and who represents them. For example, in Blaby eight of the district wards saw less than a third of people turnout to vote at the last local election.

With the 2023 local elections only a week away, the LDRS has pulled together a list of the key powers of the county's district and borough councils and how these may affect your lives. Your vote on Thursday, May 4, will help determine which political party gets to control this power.

Planning

From new sports pitches to huge housing developments, your district or borough council has the ability to choose what can be built within the area. Many planning decisions, for projects such as house extensions or garden annexes, are made by unelected planning officers, but major developments are debated by a committee of councillors.

Planning committees will meet once a month to discuss all the latest large-scale and potentially controversial planning applications. The group then have the power to approve or reject applications, and are made up of councillors elected by you.

The building of a new Aldi in Market Harborough, a huge logistics hub in Blaby or nine artificial football pitches in Oadby, are all planning decisions made by councillors. Members of the public have the ability to voice their concerns or support for planning applications on council websites, but it is up to your elected officials who will get the final say.

Council tax

The amount of money you will pay towards local authorities in council tax is decided by local councillors. A huge number of councils across the country raised their share of council tax earlier this year following a central government decision to hike tax up by five per cent.

Many borough and district councils across Leicestershire followed suit and raised its share. For Leicestershire residents, the council tax charge consists of a fee from the county council, the Police and Crime Commissioner, the local fire authority and your local borough/district council.

Not all district and borough councils raised its part of the council tax due to the backdrop of the cost of living crisis. Harborough District Council decided not to raise its share until next year and North West Leicestershire District Council prides itself on the fact it hasn't raised the tax for the past 13 years.

Bins

Having consistent bin collections are extremely important to residents and it is a power controlled by the local council. If your house doesn't come with outside bins, you can buy these from your local council.

If you live in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, black and blue bins will set you back £28 each, and a brown garden waste bin £37.50. Councils also offer a garden waste removal service for annual fee. In the Charnwood Borough Council area, residents can pay £50 for a brown wheelie bin for garden waste which is emptied every two weeks.

But the frequency of bin collections has lessened in recent years, much to the annoyance of residents and these decisions are made by elected officials. Oadby and Wigston Borough Council is the only council in Leicestershire which has currently maintained a weekly bin collection for rubbish and recycling, whereas most other councils now work on an alternate biweekly basis.

Housing

The district and borough councils also have the duty to ensure people have a suitable and liveable home. They are also responsible for ensuring repairs to its properties are carried out in a timely manner and supporting people who are homeless.

Currently, local councils across the country are housing 200,000 homeless people in temporary accommodation and 1.2 million households are on the social housing waiting list. The average council is also building 1,400 homes a year as council housing, but some are suggesting that this isn't enough.

People have to apply for local authority housing and councils will assess your needs and decide if you are a high priority. Elected councillors are likely to deal with individuals and families who are experiencing tough times in regards to their living situations, who come to them for advice.

Libraries, parks and museums

The local authority also provides funding to ensure libraries, museums and parks are kept open and maintained. Over the winter, councils across Leicestershire offered local residents the opportunity to use its libraries as a warm space where they could take part in activities.