WEYMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL – CLIMATE, ECOLOGICAL AND EMERGENCY WORKING GROUP
TERMS OF REFERENCE- DRAFT FOR CONSIDERATION

Terms of Reference

1.	Working Group Objective: Weymouth Town Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019; and a commitment to making the Council’s activities net zero carbon by 2030. Since this time the council have developed a decarbonisation strategy and action plan to reduce its own carbon footprint and are working hard to change the way it operates to a more sustainable operation to achieve this target. The Climate & Ecological Emergency (CEE) Working Group will prioritise annual actions from the plan. This is a priority area of work for the council, but delivery will be reliant on the resources available to the council at any point during the life of the plan.

2.	The working group will meet monthly to:
a.	Review the action plan and what progress is being made.
b.	Build and maintain links with local groups and organisations.
c.	Make recommendations to the Town Council on resourcing the plan, via the Project Group.
d.	Make recommendations on involving the wider community in the plan.
e.	Ensure minutes, reports and documents are kept and are made publicly accessible.

3.	Membership: Membership of the CEE working group, will be as follows:
a.	Chair- Elected by the Working group.
b.	Vice-chair- Elected by the Working group.
c.	Secretary- to take minutes and organise meetings of the working group. This will be an officer from the Weymouth Town Council Project Office team.
d.	4 Council Members of Weymouth Town Council (Total).
e.	Up to 5 other members from a spread across the Geographical area. This should include representatives of different interest groups such as Businesses, Community groups, Environment, large landowners etc. 

4.	Meetings: Working Group meetings will take place every month. Decisions made by the Working Group should normally be by consensus at Working Group meetings. Where a vote is required, each member shall have one vote. Members who are non-councillors will not be eligible to vote. 
All approved decisions will be reported up to the Environment and Services committee.
For any financial decisions to be approved, these can be done within the working group if it is already included within the CEE Action plan. Any items to be financially approved which are not in the plan must be presented to the Environment and Services committee for their approval.

5.	Conduct and Interests: The Working Group will follow the code of conduct. The Working Group will achieve this through applying the following principles.
a.	Work with mutual trust and respect and combine their expertise.
b.	Be clear when their individual roles or interests are in conflict.
c.	Provide feedback from Working Group meetings to their parent organisations.
d.	Assist their parent organisation to bring appropriate ideas and concerns to the attention of the Working Group.
e.	Inform the Working Group when they are unable to deliver agreed actions.
f.	Treat everyone with dignity, courtesy, and respect regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability, or religion and belief.
g.	Actively promote equality of access and opportunity.
h.	In situations where interests and roles are in conflict they must be declared before the business is discussed, and the working group member should leave the room for that item.