Local election season produces a great deal of opinion copy and publishes very little of it. The problem is seldom the politics. It is that the piece arrives late, argues from assumption, and could have been written about any council in the country. Local editors are not short of opinions. They are short of opinions that are specific, checkable and rooted in the patch their readers actually live in.
Know what a local editor is looking for
A news desk wants something it cannot easily generate itself: a view, from someone with standing, tied to a decision that is live this week. That usually means 600 to 800 words, filed early, with a byline, a short biography and a headshot ready to go.
Most desks will welcome a column that includes:
- a named place — a ward, a street, a school, a bus route;
- a live decision with a date attached: a budget vote, a planning committee, a consultation closing;
- two or three verifiable facts, with sources the desk can check itself;
- one clear position, stated within the first hundred words;
- the word count you were asked for, not the one you fancied.
What sinks a submission is vagueness. "Something must be done about the town centre" is not a column, it is a sigh. An editor can get a sigh from a councillor's press release for free.
Start with a fact, not a feeling
Opinion carries further when it stands on evidence. Open with something that is true and easy to check, then tell the reader why it matters. Compare these two beginnings. Weak: "Our high street is dying and nobody in the town hall seems to care." Stronger: "Three of the eleven units on Mill Street have stood empty since the spring, and the council's own town centre report names regeneration as a priority for the coming year." The second one earns the right to the anger in the third paragraph.
Where to find facts quickly
Council agendas, committee minutes and officer reports are published and searchable. Budget papers show what was cut and what was protected. Planning portals list applications, objections and decisions. Consultation results are usually summarised somewhere. Local authority data dashboards, national statistics releases and the council's own annual accounts are all fair game. Keep your own notes from hustings, public meetings and conversations with residents — but treat those as leads, not proof.
Two rules. Date every figure you use, so a reader knows whether you mean this year's budget or the one before. And keep a link or a document reference for each claim, even if it never appears in the finished piece. It will save you an awkward email at nine o'clock on filing night.
Make the local context do the work
Generality is what separates a column that gets published from one that gets binned. Readers recognise their own street, their own school gate, their own bus that no longer runs on a Sunday. Naming these things is not decoration; it is the proof that you know the area, and it gives the sub-editor a headline.
Pick one concrete instance and build the argument around it rather than listing ten. A column about parking is about the double-parked vans outside the pharmacy on a Saturday morning, and what the new residents' parking zone does or does not change about that. The wider point arrives afterwards, supported by the specifics rather than diluted by them.
Take a position and defend it properly
A column that concludes both sides have a point has failed. Say what should happen, who should do it and by when. "The cabinet should publish the road repair schedule for the next twelve months before polling day, ward by ward" is an ask. "The council should listen to residents" is not.
The one-paragraph concession
State the strongest version of the argument against you, fairly, in a single paragraph. Then answer it. This is not weakness; it is what makes the piece persuasive to readers who started out disagreeing. Misrepresenting the other side is the fastest way to lose the argument in the comments and the trust of the editor.
Structure that survives editing
Write so that any paragraph can be cut without the piece collapsing. A shape that works:
- Opening: one sentence of fact, one of consequence.
- The stake: what changes if nothing happens.
- The evidence: two or three specific details from the public record.
- The concession: the best case against you, stated honestly.
- The ask: who does what, by when.
- The close: a line that returns to the image you opened with.
Keep paragraphs to two or four sentences, and vary the length of your sentences deliberately. Short ones land hard. If a paragraph is doing two jobs, split it.
Accuracy, law and the pre-election period
Check every number twice. If you cannot verify a claim, cut it or attribute it clearly as somebody else's assertion. Opinion is protected; false statements of fact about a candidate's personal character or conduct are a different matter altogether and can carry serious consequences. Defamation rules still apply to local political writing. If you are unsure about a claim, take advice from the returning officer at your council or from a solicitor before you file.
It also helps to understand the pre-election period, often called purdah. During that time councils are restricted in what they can publish and promote, which means press officers may be far less able to help you. Plan around it. Do your research before the period begins, not during it.
The pitch and the practicalities
Send five or six lines, not a finished draft: a proposed headline, your opening sentence, the word count, why now, and your connection to the area. Offer a headshot and a two-line biography. Say when you can deliver, then deliver earlier than that. Election copy has a shelf life measured in days, and a good column that misses the window is a dead column.
Expect cuts and accept them gracefully. Do not send the same piece to two rival local titles without saying so, and never claim to speak for an organisation unless you genuinely do.
A checklist before you press send
- Every number checked and dated.
- Every claim traceable to a document, a recording or a named source.
- At least two named local places in the first three paragraphs.
- One clear position, stated early.
- The strongest counter-argument addressed, not caricatured.
- A specific ask with a name and a deadline attached.
- Word count, byline, biography and headshot all ready.
- Filed before the deadline, not on it.
Do this with consistency and you will find that editors start asking you for copy rather than the other way round. Local politics rewards writers who turn up with facts, a clear opinion and a genuine familiarity with the streets they are writing about. That combination is rarer than it should be, which is precisely why it gets published.
Photo: Hans / Pixabay
