1. Name
1.1 The name of the association is “Windrush Catchment Partnership”.
2. Area
2.1 The Catchment Partnership will take an interest in the whole catchment of the River Windrush from the source in the north Cotswolds to south Oxfordshire, including its tributaries and the River Thames.
Figure 1: Windrush Catchment
(source: e.g. https://catchmentbasedapproach.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Windrush-Catchment-Plan-Feb-2021-draft.pdf)
2.2 The Catchment Partnership are cognizant the River Windrush water flow contains inputs from beyond the catchment geography, and also forms part of the Thames Basin.
3. Vision
3.1 To make a healthy water environment a positive aspect of people’s daily life.
4. Remit
4.1 The aim of the Catchment Partnership is to bring together relevant organisations to conserve and improve the health of the water environment of the Windrush catchment.
4.2 The Catchment Partnership will provide a forum for discussion of issues and coordination of activity, contributing to the development of a Catchment Partnership monitoring and evaluation process.
4.3 The Catchment Partnership works at the catchment level with key stakeholder organisations to agree the strategic priorities for the catchment and support delivery.
4.4 The Catchment Partnership will support the Environment Agency in developing an appropriate River Basin Management Plan, required under the Water Framework Directive.
4.5 The Catchment Partnership maintains the primary right to recommend and support actions within the Windrush catchment as per the Windrush Catchment Partnership strategic priorities.
4.6 The Catchment Partnership will support adjacent catchment partnerships through the sharing of information and activity prioritisation wherever possible.
5. Status
5.1 The Catchment Partnership is a voluntary, non-statutory body which is mandated by the Environment Agency [Mandate: A contract by which one party agrees to perform services for another without payment].
5.2 The Catchment Partnership is unincorporated and not a legal entity.
5.3 The Catchment Partnership does not hold or expend funds itself. Projects and activities recommended or supported by the Catchment Partnership will be led by other organisations best placed to do so.
6. Membership
6.1 Membership of the partnership is conferred to an individual who represents an organisation (public, private, NGO, charity, local community group) which supports the aims of the Catchment Partnership and whose goals are synergistic with the remit set out for the Catchment Partnership.
6.2 Membership shall be conferred by simple majority vote of existing members.
6.3 The Catchment Partnership will review its membership at least every two years.
6.4 Members who are not active, that is, not participating in Catchment Partnership actions and management processes, will be placed on a ‘correspondence only’ list. Members placed on such a list will still be able to contribute to the Partnership, but will have no voting rights.
6.5 A member who does not participate (either by meeting attendance or contribution in any other way) to achieving the aims of the Catchment Partnership within a twelve month period, shall be deemed to have resigned from the partnership and be deleted from all communication media.
6.6 The Catchment Host Officer of the Catchment Partnership shall keep a list of members.
7. Risk
7.1 Liability risk arising from collaborative Catchment Partner activities rest with the relevant member organisation aka ‘partner’.
7.2 Liability risk arising from decisions made at the Windrush Catchment Partnership meetings are shared among partners, unless risk is agreed to rest with a specific partner.
7.3 Personal liability risk may occur as a result of contractual obligations or through carrying out an activity that could create a legal liability in the name of the Catchment Partnership. To avoid such risk:
a) Communications issued in the name of the Windrush Catchment Partnership should include the following caveat:
Disclaimer
This publication may be of assistance to you, but the Windrush Catchment Partnership, its members and other contributors do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaim all liability from error, loss or other consequence that may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.
b) The use of the Windrush Catchment Partnership name or logo should not be used in isolation, but alongside the relevant members’ information details and should include the following caveat:
Disclaimer
The Windrush Catchment Partnership is a voluntary group who work to conserve and improve the health of the water environment of the Windrush Catchment. Use of Windrush logo or name does not imply any endorsement by them.
8. Equality
8.1 The Association will not discriminate against any member of the Partnership on any grounds.
9. Governance
9.1 It is intended that the Catchment Partnership be given adequate structure without being burdened by formality.
9.2 Each organisation shall have one vote at meetings on matters requiring a vote and, except where otherwise provided in this terms of reference, any decision will be by way of simple majority of those organisations at said meeting. Such decisions made will be considered binding to all members.
9.3 Any person who is not a member of the Catchment Partnership, including representatives of other organisations, shall be entitled to attend and address a meeting by prior arrangement, unless there is an objection from an existing member, but such persons will have no voting rights.
9.4 Decisions are made jointly for any initiative requiring collaborative activity; joint working arrangements are left to the discretion of the collaborating members.
9.5 Issue based ‘Task & Finish’ advisory groups will be set up by agreement of the members to explore issues, identify solutions and make recommendations to the Catchment Partnership.
9.6 There will be at least four meetings of the Catchment Partnership a year. Meetings should address both governance and management issues and also provide an opportunity for updates on catchment health and environment.
9.7 A quorum of 6 organisations is required for any general meeting, including officers. 8 organisations should be present to make decisions on matters requiring a vote.
9.8 The meetings of the Catchment Partnership will be chaired by the Chair or Vice-Chair(s) of the Catchment Partnership except if they are unavailable, in which case the meeting shall be chaired by another officer.
9.9 The Catchment Host Officer will maintain a record of matters discussed at meetings and any decisions made.
9.10 The Catchment Host Officer will endeavour to give 28 days’ notice in writing to all members for meetings, excluding extraordinary meeting requirements.
9.11 The Catchment Partnership shall review its membership, terms of reference, appointment of officers at least on an annual basis.
10. Catchment Partnership Management
10.1 The officers of the Catchment Partnership shall consist of a chair, vice chair(s), secretary and statutory body representative.
10.2 The secretarial role will be fulfilled by the Catchment Host Officer; the statutory body role will be fulfilled by the Environment Agency Catchment Co-ordinator.
10.3 Election of Chair and Vice-chair(s) is to be by way of simple majority vote by organisation. If either officer resigns, retires or is no longer able to continue in office for any reason, then, at the request of the officers at a meeting, the members can appoint a member (including one of the current officers) to act on a temporary basis.
10.4 All Catchment Partners are expected to comply with the Roles and Responsibilities as outlined in separate documentation held by the Catchment Host.
10.5 The selection of Vice-chairs(s) shall enable the partnership to access specific skills, so providing operational support to both the Chair and/or Catchment Host.
11. Catchment Partnership Functional Requirements
11.1 All catchment partners are to contribute to the identification of activities required to enable the partnership to function, excluding those activities which fall wholly within the remit of member organisations. Such activities are to be reviewed at least annually.
11.2 Manpower and other resource required to deliver such activities are to be identified and the Catchment Partnership to consider and agree priorities.
11.3 Functional activities are listed in separate documentation held by the Catchment Host
12. Devolved Authority
12.1 The Catchment Host can represent the Catchment Partnership with regard to
a) submission of inputs to statutory consultations,
b) representing Windrush Catchment Partnership at CaBA conferences,
c) meeting with other organisations which share interests with the Windrush Catchment Partnership, such as LNPs etc.
