OUR CONSTITUTION
Wirral Conservation Areas’ Forum: General Meeting 12th April 2014
Constitution
1) Name.
The name of the group shall be ‘The Wirral Conservation Areas’ Forum’
(Amended to “Conservation Areas Wirral – CAW” at the AGM 2015)
2) Aims.
2.1 To work in partnership with Wirral Council to preserve and enhance all our designated conservation areas.
2.2 To encourage local societies, community groups and other stakeholders to play a more proactive role in caring for Wirral’s conservation areas and to strengthen their ability to influence and to support policy recommendations.
2.3 To foster the pooling of skills, knowledge, experience and good practice between conservation societies and other voluntary groups throughout Wirral.
2.4 To encourage effective networking through the production and distribution of a regular newsletter, social media, and occasional workshops and conferences.
To achieve these aims by reference to the following:
2.5 To promote a better understanding of national policy initiatives and best practice relating to conservation areas across the United Kingdom.
2.6 To give greater prominence and generate evidence on the importance of Wirral’s conservation areas as a whole, particularly in terms of their contribution to Wirral Council’s Heritage Strategy, the development of tourism, the local economy and their role in strengthening community cohesion.
2.7 To raise external revenue through grant applications to support the objectives of the Forum.
2.8 To develop an educational policy designed to help understand the significance of living in a Conservation Area.
2.9 To encourage, where appropriate, the creation of new conservation areas and to provide support to local groups and Wirral Council to take forward such initiatives.
3.0 To accept donations and subscriptions to further the aims of the Forum.
3) Membership.
Membership shall be open to any formally constituted Civic Society or Conservation Area Group within the Wirral Council area. Individual Conservation Groups shall nominate their representatives (a maximum of two) for regular attendance at meetings of the Conservation Forum. Each Society or Group will have one vote at meetings of the Forum. Newly formed Conservation Groups shall be encouraged to attend meetings but will not be entitled to vote until formally constituted.
4) Committee
A Committee shall be elected for a two year term by the Forum at the AGM. It will comprise nine members elected by the Forum through a nomination process from societies. The quorum for the Committee shall be four members. The Committee will elect its relevant officers (including a Treasurer, should the Forum hold financial assets). The Committee will also have the power to co-opt additional members as necessary.
5) Annual General Meeting.
The first AGM will be held within fifteen months of inauguration and thereafter at yearly intervals.
6) Meetings.
The Conservation Forum shall meet six monthly or more frequently as necessary. Meetings shall be organised and managed in partnership with Wirral Council and will be open to Wirral officers and Wirral elected members on the invitation of the Conservation Forum Committee. Regular meetings shall be held between the Committee and senior officers and elected members of Wirral Council to discuss strategic, Wirral-wide, relationship and organisational issues (relating to the aims listed above).
7) Finance.
In the event of the Conservation Forum holding financial assets, accounts shall be kept by the Treasurer and submitted to independent inspection and approved at a first meeting of the Forum after the end of the financial year. No subscriptions shall be raised except with the approval of the Conservation Forum.
8) Amendments to Constitution.
The constitution shall only be altered by the consent of a two-thirds majority of the Conservation Groups at a meeting or at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
9) Action in the event of winding up.
If the Conservation Forum should, by a vote of a majority at the meeting or E.G.M., cease to exist, any assets remaining after payment of outstanding expenses and liabilities shall pass to a charity consistent with the aims of the group agreed by the majority of the members of the Conservation Forum.
Signed by delegates attending the meeting on behalf of their Societies