Conservation & Access
Conservation & Access Committee
Convenor: Andrew Hinde (due for re-election in June 2019)
Membership: Representatives from each of the Constituent Bodies and Regional Councils.
Meetings: Meets as required, usually prior to Council Meetings, arranged by Convenor.
Reports to: Quarterly at BCA Council, and annually at Annual General Meeting.
Terms of Reference:
BCA Conservation and Access Standing Committee Terms of Reference (accepted at AGM 9th June 2019)
- To produce guidelines and promotional materials to encourage conservation of underground environments.
- To assist regional councils when requested.
- To campaign nationally to encourage conservation and improved access in line with BCA policy and constitution
- To undertake other conservation or access related work as may be agreed by the committee.
Standard Operating Procedures:
Committee membership
The voting members of the Conservation and Access committee should not exceed the Convenor, Constituent Body and Regional Council representatives plus five co-opted members. This is to limit the size of the committee to ensure its effective operation.
Appointments of co-opted members will be reviewed on the appointment of a new Convenor with the view of refreshing committee membership and ensuring effective working relations.
Additional non-voting observers may attend C&A committee meetings by invitation of a committee member.
The Convenor should keep a list of contact details for Constituent Body and Regional Council representatives and co-opted committee members, as well as any other relevant individuals, for the purpose of circulating dates and Agendas for meetings. These contact details should be stored securely by the Convenor and will be reviewed annually to keep them up to date.
Committee meetings
Conservation & Access committee meetings will generally be held electronically using an up to date software programme (such as WebEx) to facilitate the attendance of committee members from across the country. Regional hubs can be established where committee members may gather to aid participation. If it is deemed necessary, face to face meetings may be called.
Meetings of the Conservation and Access committee will be convened when deemed necessary by the consensus of committee members. Dates of meetings will be proposed by the Convenor and shall by published to committee members with a minimum of 2 weeks’ notice for electronic meetings or 4 weeks’ notice for face to face meetings. A meeting should be held soon after the appointment of a new Convenor or Acting Convenor.
The Convenor will invite written reports from committee members ahead of meetings to aid proceedings. Between meetings, committee members and other individuals who may be able to provide useful input are encouraged to discuss matters via email. These discussions may then require a meeting to be called, and as such wherever possible the Convenor should be included in these discussions in order to facilitate meetings where required. Regular agenda items may include:
- Regional and Constituent Body reports
- CRoW update (generic point to review any actions taken regarding CRoW and caving since the last meeting)
- Relevant documents in need of review (a timescale of review for documents relevant to/maintained by C&A could be proposed, or this could happen on an ad hoc basis)
- Difficult case reviews
- Status of conservation plans and audits
Where meetings are held electronically, recordings of the video conferencing may be held until the written minutes are approved for the purpose of clarification.