Clare County Council is responsible for the administrative area of County Clare. The council is responsible for the provision of a number of important services. These are delivered through eight programme groups: Housing and Building Road Transportation and Safety Water Supply and Sewerage (Water Services) Development Incentives and Control Environmental Protection Recreation and Amenity Agriculture, Education, Health and Welfare Miscellaneous In the provision of these services Clare County Council play a key role in community development, with the services interacting with each other and with services provided by other agencies to aid development in the following sectors: Economic – through provision of roads, water and sewerage, industrial sites, urban renewal, waste management Social – housing, community activities Environmental – pollution prevention, waste management, water services Infrastructure provision and operation / maintenance – roads, water services, housing Tourism development, amenities, heritage, arts and culture – open spaces, amenities, libraries, heritage, museum, arts activities Consumer protection – fire service, road safety, civil defence, building regulation, development control, other regulatory codes. Under the Local Government Act 2001 each local authority has an elected council with members known as councillors who are elected every five years. In Clare County Council there are 28 councillors or elected members who are elected from 4 local electoral areas.