Terms of use

The short version: use it freely, check the sources, and credit the site if you reuse a briefing.

Last updated 6 November 2026.

About these terms

Where Councils Stand (wherecouncilsstand.com) is a Where They Stand project. Where They Stand is applying to register as a charity in England and Wales. Until it is registered, the site is run by its founder, Rob Mitchell; once it is registered, the charity will run it. By using the site you agree to these terms. Contact: admin@wherecouncilsstand.com.

What the service is, and is not

• Briefings are written by AI from the councils' minutes cited with them. Automatic checks catch many errors but not all, and votes are read from the minutes automatically. Always check the sources before relying on a briefing.
• A briefing reports what councils' minutes record. Minutes are officers' summaries, not word-for-word records. A briefing is not a statement of fact about the matters discussed, and it is not legal, financial or other professional advice.
• Where Councils Stand is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any council, the Local Government Association, Civica or Northgate. The official record is each council's own minutes, which every source links to.
• The service is free and provided "as is". It may change, be paused (for example, once the daily budget is spent, only the sources are shown) or stop.

Reusing what the site writes

The site's own text, including the text of briefings, and the data it publishes (the councils covered, meetings, named votes and parties as read from the minutes) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, share and adapt them for any purpose, including commercially, as long as you credit Where Councils Stand, link to the page or briefing, and say if you changed it. For example: "Briefing by Where Councils Stand (wherecouncilsstand.com/b/k3m7q2xwpa), CC BY 4.0."

Other material on the site is under its own terms:

• Quotations from councils' minutes remain each council's copyright. They are shown only as short, cited extracts that link to the council's own record. To reuse more than that, follow the council's own terms.
• The list of councils draws on MHCLG's local authority register (public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0), mySociety's MapIt, and Local Democracy UK's council list (CC BY 4.0).
• The name Where Councils Stand, its minute-book mark and the Where They Stand name and marks are not covered by the CC licence. Please don't use them in a way that suggests the site endorses you or your work.

The site's code is open source, under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.

Fair use of the service

Please don't:

• try to get round the daily limits, or send automated requests in bulk;
• try to break, overload or gain unauthorised access to the site;
• use the site to harass anyone, or present a briefing as saying something it doesn't.

Access may be limited or blocked to protect the service.

Responsibility

Every effort is made to keep briefings accurate and fair, and errors are corrected when found (see the corrections page). To the extent the law allows, Where Councils Stand is not liable for any loss arising from use of, or reliance on, the site or its briefings. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law.

Complaints, corrections and takedown

If a briefing or a page is wrong or unfair, or you're named and something should not be shown, use "Report a problem" under it, or the report form. Mistakes in the minutes themselves can only be corrected by the council.

Changes and law

These terms may be updated; the date above shows when. They are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, without affecting any rights you have where you live.