SEMINAR ON THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS 30TH JUNE 2004

Appendix B (Guidelines for Membership of the Advisory Councils)


The Water Policy Regulations require the establishment by the local authorities in each RBD by 22 December 2004 of a river basin district advisory council as a permanent forum for direct dialogue and interaction between interested parties and the relevant public authorities. The terms of reference of the councils, as set out in article 16 of the Regulations, are -

to consider matters relating to the preparation of river basin management plans and other matters relevant to the protection and use of the aquaticenvironment and water resources in the district and to advise and makerecommendations on these matters to the relevant public authorities.

Councils will be established for a period of five years and subsequently every five years. The relevant public authorities are required to have regard to the advice and recommendations of the council.

The Regulations allow for a considerable degree of flexibility in relation to the councils on the part of local authorities. The membership and procedures of a council are to be determined by the local authorities except in relation to the following matters which are specified in the Regulations:

- chairperson to be a member of a local authority (i.e. a councillor)
- secretary to be an official of a local authority
- membership to comprise between 20 to 50 persons omembership to comprise members (i.e. councillors) of the relevant local authorities (maximum 25% of membership) together with, insofar as is practicable, representatives of other interested parties and such other persons as may be determined by the LA.
- council to meet at least twice per annum.

Suggested Membership:

By way of guidelines for local authorities, it is recommended that the membership of the advisory councils might be determined as follows -

A. two members of the relevant Strategic Policy Committee (e.g. Environment SPC) of each of the local authorities (county councils and city councils) in an RBD: one of these SPC members to be a member (councillor) of the local authority and one from the sectoral representatives: the 25% rule in relation to local authority members (see preceding paragraph) can be modified to allow for the appointment of one local authority member from each participating local authority

B. two persons representative of each of the following sectors /water user groups:

- agriculture
- economic
- environmental NGOs
- recreational
- professional / academic
- social / community, and voluntary

C. such other persons as the local authorities consider appropriate in the particular circumstances of the RBD e.g. representatives of group water scheme sector, regional fisheries boards.

D. it is recommended that the chairperson of the RBDAC should be the nominated member of the co-ordinating local authority.


Suggested Manner of appointment:

The nominees indicated at (A) above could be identified by direct invitation to each local authority to nominate two members from the membership of the relevant SPC e.g. Environment SPC. The act of nomination might be regarded as the act of appointment.

The members indicated at (B) above might be identified by direct invitation to the relevant national pillar of Sustaining Progress in the case of the representatives of the agriculture sector (the Agricultural Pillar), the economic sector (Employers Pillar). The members representative of the environmental NGOs might be identified by direct invitation to the company Environmental (Ecological) NGO Core Funding Ltd which could co-ordinate consultation with its constituent organisations. In all these cases the act of nomination of two members by the appropriate pillar, or by the company, might be regarded as being the act of appointment.

The two members representing the social / community sector might best be drawn from the Community and Voluntary Fora established in the participating local authority areas. The selection process might appropriately be organised by the Director of Services Community and Enterprise of the co-ordinating local authority in consultation with the corresponding Directors of Services of the other participating authorities.

A convenient nominating body is not readily obvious in the case of the members representing recreational users of water and the professional /academic sector. It might be appropriate for the relevant local authorities (or perhaps the relevant co-ordinating authority) to nominate candidates who are members of Community Development Boards or, alternatively, by public notice to invite nominations from interested bodies. The local authority or authorities in these cases could select and nominate their proposed appointees to the SPC members of the advisory council. In these cases the final selection and appointment of the members of the RBD advisory council might be a matter for the relevant local authorities, acting jointly, or perhaps for the co-ordinating local authority. It might be appropriate to request the advice and recommendation of the SPC members of the advisory council. [Such a process of nomination and appointment could, of course, be used in relation to all members of the advisory council indicated at (b) above but it seems preferable to avail of a central nominating body for a sector where there is such a body which routinely exercises this function.]

In relation to the members indicated at (C) above, the participating local authorities might agree a mechanism for determining the type of persons to be appointed and / or the manner of appointment e.g. by all the relevant local authorities acting jointly, by the advisory council, by the chairperson of the advisory council, by the manager or members of the co-ordinating local authority, by a combination of such mechanisms.

It is arguable that the effectiveness of an advisory council will diminish as the size increases. It might be desirable therefore to aim to create smaller rather than larger advisory councils, particularly in the case of those RBD's with the smallest number of participating local authorities. The number of participating local authorities in each RBD and a suggested maximum membership of the RBDAC is as follows:

Comment:

31. The proposals set out above appear to provide, insofar as is practicable, broad-based advisory councils reflecting a balanced representation of local authority members (representing the community generally) and representatives of the most relevant sectors. A strong linkage with local authority members is desirable and appropriate because local authorities are the competent authorities under the Water Policy Regulations in relation to the adoption of programmes of measures and river basin management plans and also exercise the reserved functions assigned by other relevant legislation such as the Planning Acts, Water Pollution Acts, the Waste Management Acts. Strong linkage with the SPCs is particularly desirable and appropriate given that SPCs have a statutory basis and advisory function under local government law and are a fundamental feature of local government arrangements for promoting participative democracy alongside representative democracy.

The relevant SPCs will, in due course, be the bodies which formally consider and advise local authorities in relation to the adoption by local authorities of river basin management plans and other environmental policy instruments.

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