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The Clackmannanshire Access Forum Partnership Agreement

The Clackmannanshire Access Forum Partnership Agreement

Background

Section 25 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 places a duty on each local authority to establish at least one local access forum.

Aims

The Forum aims to work in partnership with Clackmannanshire Council to:

• advise the local authority and any other person or body consulting the Forum on matters having to do with the exercise of access rights, the existence and delineation of rights of way, and on core paths plans; and
• to offer, and where the offer is accepted, to assist in the resolution of disputes about the exercise of access rights, the existence and delineation of rights of way, the core paths plan and the use of core paths.

The Forum will seek to achieve these aims by:

• acting as a consultee in relation to statutory obligations, such as the identification of a Core Path Plan, as well as other access matters;
• promoting and sharing good practice, and enabling effective networking;
• assisting Clackmannanshire Council and its partners in delivering Clackmannanshire Open Space Strategy objectives; and
• engaging in constructive debate to seek agreement on access issues through a consensual approach.

Structure and Membership

The Forum will meet at least quarterly, unless otherwise agreed by a majority of Forum members.

Members of the Forum are elected at an Annual General Meeting.

To enable the Forum to be effective, balanced and inclusive, it will consist of representatives from three key stakeholder groups:

• Land Managers
• Community Groups
• Users

The Role of Representatives on the Forum

Representatives of the key stakeholder groups should endeavour to ensure that the views they express are wider than their own personal or group views.

Appointing a Representative

To ensure that the Forum is balanced, each of the stakeholder groups (Land Managers, Community Groups, and Users) will be given the opportunity at an AGM to nominate and agree on four members to represent their interests.

Once elected, a representative will be appointed for not less than one year and not more than four years. Normally, it would be expected that one member (one of the longest serving members) of each stakeholder group would stand down at the AGM. A representative having stood down, is not prevented from standing for re-election and will be appointed for not less than one year and not more than four years.

The Council will act as the facilitator in this process.Clackmannanshire Council may appoint two Council officers to the Forum - the Access and Countryside Projects Officer and one other officer representing the Sustainability and Energy Team. Other Council officers can attend as observers, as and when considered appropriate.

The Forum will have a maximum of 14 representatives.

Appointing a Chairperson

The Forum will be responsible for the election of a Chair Person who will serve for a period of two years. Normally it would be expected that the position of Chair Person would rotate amongst the three key stakeholder groups in the order of Land Managers, Users, and Community Groups.

Conduct of Meetings

Quorum

To be quorate, a minimum of five members must be present, with all three stakeholder groups represented at a meeting. If a meeting is not quorate, it will be postponed and a further meeting will be arranged as soon as possible.

If a Chair Person is unable to attend a meeting, those present will nominate a substitute to replace them for that meeting only.

Substitute

Should a stakeholder group representative be unable to attend a meeting, they may, by agreement with the Chair Person or the Access and Countryside Projects Officer, nominate a temporary substitute, drawn from the same stakeholder constituency, to attend in his/her stead for that meeting (only).

Failure to attend meetings

If a representative, or their deputy, fails to attend three consecutive meetings of the Forum; then the Council may, and taking account of any advice provided by the Forum, take the decision to rescind their membership.

If membership is rescinded, the person concerned will not be eligible to stand for re-election at the next AGM.

Disclosure of a personal interest

A member of the Forum who is directly or indirectly interested in any matter brought up for consideration at a meeting shall disclose the nature of their interest to the meeting. Failure to disclose may result in membership of the Forum being rescinded.

Appointing of advisors

The Forum may invite advisors to meetings to provide expert advice on any matter which may arise.

Working Groups

The Forum may appoint working groups for the purpose of advising the Forum on either topic based or area based matters.

Working groups may comprise any individual or organisation which will enable the Group to fulfil its role. Working groups will:

• have clear terms of reference and life expectancy; and
• report to the Forum.

Administration of Meetings

The following will be adopted as standard procedures for meetings of the Forum and working groups:

• Positions will generally be reached through consensus (where a position cannot be reached through consensus, it will be reached by individual vote. Note: That any position is advisory and that members will have equal voting status. Observers are not entitled to vote. In the event of a hung vote, the Chair person will have the casting vote).
• Members of the Forum may request items for inclusion in the agenda (normally, this would be of a general, rather than personal, nature).
• Members of the public may request items for inclusion in the agenda through a Forum member who can be identified on the Access Forum Representatives page on Clacksweb.
• Agenda items will be agreed by the Chairperson in consultation with the Council's Access and Countryside Projects Officer.
• Agendas, minutes and any other relevant papers of Forum meetings will be posted on the Council website.

Clackmannanshire Council will be responsible for the provision of facilities for meetings of the Forum, the AGM and, at its discretion, for meetings of working groups.

Members of the public can attend Forum meetings as observers with prior (2 days) notification to the Access and Countryside Projects Officer.

Review

The Forum will be responsible for the periodic review of this partnership agreement.