CHESHIRE AND WARRINGTON JOINT COMMITTEE
TERMS OF REFERENCE
1. Cheshire East Council,
Cheshire West and Chester Council and Warrington Council have
established an Executive Joint Committee known as the Cheshire and
Warrington Joint Committee (‘the Committee”) for the
purpose of discharging the functions mentioned in Annex A. The
Councils are enabled to set up Joint Committees under Part VI of
the Local Government Act 1972 and Part I Chapter 2 of the Local
Government Act 2000.
2. Each Council is entitled to
appoint one voting member in respect of the business to be carried
out in Part One of Appendix A (Subscriber Members), and one further
voting member in respect of the business to be carried out in Part
Two of Appendix A (Joint Committee Members). In the event of a
voting member of the Committee ceasing to be a member of the
Council which appointed him/her, the Council shall forthwith
appoint another voting member in his/her place. Only a voting
member is entitled to be elected as Chair or Vice-Chair of the
Committee.
3. Each Council may appoint
members as substitute for the members appointed under (i) above to attend meetings of the Committee in the
absence for any reason of the members appointed under (i) above, in accordance with their own
constitutional requirements. The substitute members shall be
treated in all respects if they were appointed under (i) above.
4. The Chair of the Business
Advisory Board (‘BAB’) shall be an ex officio member of
the Committee and may speak at meetings of the Committee but not
vote. The Chair of the Business Advisory Board may present reports
to the Committee from the BAB.
5. The Committee shall maintain
a two-year rolling Chair and Vice-Chair from among the Subscriber
Members. The Chair will rotate every two years in the following
order CWaC (until May 2025), CEC (until
May 2027) WBC (until May 2029) and shall continue in that rotation.
The Vice-Chair shall be from CEC (until May 2025) and to shall
rotate in the same order as the chairmanship every two
years.
6. Three voting members of the
Committee shall constitute a quorum for the business set out in
Part One of Appendix A. Four voting members shall constitute a
quorum for the business set out in Part Two of Appendix A. Except
as otherwise provided by statute, all questions shall be decided by
a majority of the votes of the voting members present, the Chair
having the casting vote in addition to his/her vote as a member of
the Committee.
7. The Committee shall meet as
agreed at its AGM and at least three times each year. However, a
meeting of the Committee may be convened at any time by the
Committee Clerk in consultation with the Chair. A meeting of the
Committee must also be convened by the Chair within 28 days of the
receipt of a requisition of any two Subscriber Members of the
Committee addressed to the Committee Clerk. The Chair of the Board
may request a meeting of the Committee by notice in writing
addressed to the Committee Clerk, but
may not requisition one. All requisitions shall be in writing and
no business other than that specified in the requisition shall be
transacted at such a meeting.
8. The Committee shall adopt
the standing orders of Cheshire East Council but it may agree to vary these and from time
to time make such standing orders for the carrying on of the
business of the Committee as the Committee shall deem necessary and
or desirable.
9. For the avoidance of doubt
and subject to there being no changes to the law on this issue,
where a Council is operating executive arrangements pursuant to the
Local Government Act 2000 (and any regulations made under it), it
will be a matter for the Executive of the Council to appoint any
voting member, or substitute member of the Committee as long as
that member is a member of the appointing Councils Cabinet. Where a
Council is operating committee system arrangements pursuant to the
Local Government Act 2000, it will be a matter for the Council to
appoint any voting member and substitute member to the Joint
Committee.
10.The Committee shall from
time to time appoint such sub-committees to consider and deal with
any of the functions of the Committee as may be thought
desirable.
11.The Committee Clerk and such
other officers as may be deemed necessary for the due conduct of
the business of the Committee shall be provided by Cheshire East
Council and the costs of this shall be met by the Council-owned
company (Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington – NB: name
subject to Member approval).
12.The first meeting of the
Committee shall be held at Cheshire East Council and the venue shall then rotate between the
Councils in alphabetical order, unless otherwise directed by the
Committee.
13.As and when required by an
Overview and Scrutiny Committee or other Committee or an Audit
Committee of any of the Councils, the Subscriber Member for the
Council whose Overview and Scrutiny Committee or Committee or Audit
Committee has instigated an investigation shall take the lead
responsibility for accounting for the activities of the Committee
to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee or Committee or Audit
Committee and shall attend such meetings of those committees of its
Council as necessary, and no other member of the Committee shall be
required to attend.
14.The Committee Clerk
shall:
a. Be responsible for preparing
the agenda and submitting reports prepared by either the Councils
or other bodies to the Committee and minutes of the
Committee.
b. Be responsible for
making arrangements for publishing in
accordance with Access to Information requirements all meetings,
agenda, agenda items and minutes as appropriate.
15.The relevant Standing Orders
for the Committee are those of Cheshire East Council.
16.In the
event that an urgent decision is needed for the discharge of
any of the functions of this Committee, other than those functions
which by law can be discharged only by the Councils or a specific
Committee, then the Growth Director of each Council is entitled to
act on behalf of the Committee. A decision will be urgent where any
delay would seriously prejudice the legal or financial position of
the Councils or the interests of residents. This delegation is
subject to the conditions that any urgent action: -
(a) Should be reported to the
Committee.
(b) Shall take the advice of
the Monitoring Officer and S151 officer of each Council.
(c) Shall be exercised in
consultation with the three Subscriber members of the
Committee.
(d) Shall be exercised within
each Councils own financial and other constitutional
requirement.
Part One - Shareholder Functions of the
Committee
1. To approve the business plan
and budget of LEPCo/Enterprise Cheshire
and Warrington (ECW) and any required variations.
2. Ensuring that LEPCo/ ECW deliver against their business plan and
budget, holding them to account for such delivery and directing the
LEPCO/ECW Board to take remedial action where necessary.
3. To appoint directors to the
LEPCo/ECW Board.
4. To approve any capital
expenditure to be made in excess of
£100k unless agreed under the business plan.
5. To approve the entering into
of any lease or licence for the occupation of land or
premises.
6. To approve the appointment
of members of LEPCo/ECW management
team.
7. To approve the entering into
of any contract in excess of £100k
unless agreed under the Business Plan.
8. To approve the entering into
or giving of any loan, guarantee, surety or indemnity by
LEPCo/ECW other than the giving of
grant by LEPCo/ECW as part of its
business plan.
9. To approve the opening or
closing of any bank account by the Company.
10. To approve any changes to
the Articles of Association of the Company
11. To approve any staffing or
other material policy changes or new policies to be
implemented.
Part Two - Other Functions of the
Committee
1. To receive reports from the
Business Advisory Board, any Sub Committee of the Joint Committee
and the Growth Directors (management) Group.
2. Any time review and agree
proposed changes to the Functions of the Committee and seek
approval of the same from the three Councils.
3. To agree and approve any
proposed governance and or reporting structure that the Committee
sees fit.