Dedham Vale AONB & Stour Valley Project
SV path landscape cut

PARTNERSHIP

Key Purpose
To deliver actions of the management plan and champion the environmental quality of the AONB and Stour Valley.  The Partnership would also guide the work of, and decide upon the need for, topic related working groups.

What is expected of Partnership members?
All members of the Partnership are there to represent the best for the whole valley and therefore may well have to operate apart from their own organisation.  Members will be expected to promote the objectives of the Partnership and the Project within their own organisations and be active in implementing delivery of the Management Plan.
N.B. the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project is not the operational arm of the Partnership but is a specific unit of the local authorities, which works solely in the valley. 

The Partnership will not be run as a local authority committee.  All members are encouraged to bring forward items for the agenda.  (The secretariat will be with the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project).  There will be occasions, particularly on major issues, when the Partnership may wish to take a collective position or response independent of its constituent organisations.

Membership
• Officer Steering Group - 9 (plus other members of the Project team as appropriate)
• Elected councillors of funding local authorities – 13
• 1 NFU representative
• 1 CLA representative
• 1 Environment Agency representative
• 2 Natural England representatives
• 1 CPRE representative
• 1 National Trust representative
• 1 representative of sub-regional economic partnership (or designated substitutes)
     TOTAL =29
An option is retained to co-opt people to specific meetings.

Frequency and timing of meetings
The Partnership will meet twice per year but with the option of calling additional special meetings if necessary. The meetings will be in spring and autumn to fit in with budget cycles, financial years and local elections.

Chairing
Any member of the Partnership could chair. The chair will stand for 3 years, (unless they stood down earlier).  The next election will be due at Spring 2012 Partnership meeting. The vice chair would be on a similar basis. The chair would also be required to attend meetings with officers to represent the Partnership.  The current Chair is Mr Robert Erith.

Voting
The Partnership is encouraged to operate on a consensus basis, to choose options that are best for the Valley as a whole. However to elect the chair and other issues that go to a vote, each person on the Partnership will have a vote. The chair would have the casting vote if necessary.