Constitution of New Town and Broughton Community Council

1) Title:
The Community Council shall be known as the 'New Town and Broughton Community Council', refereed to hereinafter as 'the Community Council'.
The members of the Community Council, whether elected or nominated, shall be known as Community Council Representatives, hereinafter referred to as 'Representatives', either elected or nominated.

2) Functions:
The functions of the Community Council shall be those set out in Section 51 (2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and in any other specific functions which may be agreed between the Community Council and the City of Edinburgh.

3) Membership:
In accordance with and as specified in the schedule to the Scheme, the membership of the Community Council shall consist of 16 Elected Representatives and 8 Nominated Representatives.

Members of Parliament and of the City of Edinburgh Council representing a Parliamentary constituency, or electoral ward within which the area of the Community Council as defined in the Scheme is wholly or partly situated, shall be ex officio members of the Community Council. Such ex officio members shall have no voting rights and shall not be entitled to be elected or nominated representatives of the Community Council.

The Community Council may co-opt persons with a specific knowledge or expertise, up to a maximum of five. Such co-opted members shall have no voting rights and shall not be entitled to be elected or nominated representatives of the Community Council. The Community Council will also seek to invite two young people between 16 and 18 years of age to serve as co-opted members. (These shall be in addition to the five co-options permitted above).

4) Method of Election and appointment:
a) Elected Representatives:
The second and subsequent ordinary elections of elected representatives to the Community Councils shall be conducted in accordance with the rules for Elections contained in Appendix I to this Constitution.

b) Nominated Representatives:
The second and subsequent appointment of nominated representatives to the Community Council shall be made in accordance with the procedure contained in Appendix II to this Constitution.

5) Terms of Office:
a) Elected representatives at the first election shall hold office until the day of the next ordinary election of representatives at the end of the current three year Community Council cycle.

b) Elected representatives at the second and subsequent ordinary elections of representatives shall hold office until the next ensuing election of representatives.

c) The term of office of nominated representatives shall be the same as that of elected representatives provided that nominated representatives shall cease to be representatives of the Community Council on ceasing to be members of their respective nominating organisations.

d) Ex Officio members shall cease to be members on ceasing to hold their qualifying office.

e) A co-opted member shall hold office until the next ensuing election of representatives.

f) An elected or nominated representative elected or appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold office until the day of the next ensuing ordinary election or appointment of representatives.

6) Casual Vacancies:
Casual vacancies occurring in the elected representatives may be filled by co-option provided that the number of members co-opted does not exceed one quarter of the maximum number of elected representatives.
In the event of any nominated representative ceasing to hold office on a Community Council, the vacancy shall be filled by a person appointed at a joint meeting of local interest groups called for that purpose.

7) Chair and Vice Chair:
At the Annual General Meeting of the Community Council, following the election of ordinary representatives, the Community Council shall appoint from amongst its members a Chair and a Vice Chair, both of whom shall hold office until the date of the next ensuing ordinary election of elected representatives to the Community Council.

8) Officers:
At the first Annual General Meeting of the Community Council following the ordinary election of representatives, the Community Council shall appoint from amongst its members a Secretary and a Treasurer, both of whom shall hold office until the date of the next ensuing ordinary election of representatives to the Community Council.

9) Meetings:
There shall be at least six meetings in public each year at times and places to be determined by the Community Council.

The Annual General Meeting of the Community Council shall be held in May, save that in an election year the Annual General Meeting shall be held 21 days following the ordinary election of representatives.

10) Committees:
The Community Council may appoint Committees which may meet in private. The Chair of a Committee shall be appointed by the Community Council. A Committee shall deal only with those matters specifically remitted to it by the Community Council.

11) Notice of Meetings:
Meetings will normally be called by notice in writing given by the Secretary not less than seven days before the date of the meeting, and the notice shall include the agenda of items of business to be transacted at the meeting.

12) Sederunt:
The Secretary shall keep record of the names of the representatives present at each meeting of the Community Council, or of any Committees.

13) Minutes:
The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the Community Council and of all meetings of any Committees.

At each ordinary meeting of the Community Council;
a) the minutes of the previous ordinary meeting and of any intervening meeting of the Community Council having been circulated, shall be submitted, held as read and approved as a correct record of the meeting after such adjustment, if any, as may be deemed to be necessary, and there after signed by the Chair of the meeting to which they were submitted;
b) the minutes of all Committees held since the last ordinary meeting of the Community Council shall be circulated among the members of the Community Council and shall be subject to the approval of the Community Council. Minutes of meetings of Committees shall be signed by the Chair of the meeting to which each minute relates.

14) Procedure at Meetings:
Unless provision is made to the contrary in this Constitution, the normal rules of procedure applicable to meetings of local authorities as defined in Schedule7 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 will apply to meetings of the Community Council.

15) Quorum:
No business shall be transacted at a meeting of (a) the Community Council unless at least one third of the whole number of representatives for the Community Council as specified in the Schedule to the Scheme are present and; (b) a Committee of the Community Council unless there are present 50% of the total number of members of the Committee, or three, whichever is the lesser number.

16) Chair:
At a meeting of the Community Council, the Chair, if present, shall preside.

If the Chair is absent from a meeting of the Community Council, the Vice Chair shall preside and if both are absent another member of the Community Council chosen by the members of the Community Council present shall preside.

The Chair of the meeting shall decide all questions of order, relevancy and competency arising at meetings of the Community Council or any Committee, and their ruling on such matters shall be taken as final and not open to further discussion.

17) Financial Arrangements:
The Community Council shall have their accounts audited annually by a competent person appointed by the Community Council for the purpose at the Annual General Meeting.

The Financial Year of the Community Council shall be the same as that of the City of Edinburgh Council (1st April to 31st March) and adequate copies of all audited accounts shall be available at the Annual General Meeting.

The Community Council shall by the 1st of November each year submit a copy of their audited accounts for the previous year to the Director of Finance of the City of Edinburgh Council.

18) Dissolution:
The Community Council may be dissolved in terms of paragraph 13 (a) of the Appendix I to this Constitution, or by resolution of the Community Council at a meeting called for that purpose and notice of the intention to consider dissolution having been given in the Notice calling the meeting.

In the event of the dissolution of the Community Council it shall be open to any twenty electors for the area (as defined in the Scheme) to make further applications for a Community Council to be established for the area after the expiry of six months following the date of dissolution. On the dissolution of the Community Council, such property and funds as are vested in the Community Council at the date of its dissolution shall vest in the City of Edinburgh Council, who shall apply the funds for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Community Council Area, provided that preference shall in any event be given to the transfer of such property and funds to a successor Community Council for the area established in accordance with the Scheme.

19) Approval of the Constitution:
This Constitution is subject to the approval of the City of Edinburgh Council.

20) Amendment of the Constitution:
This Constitution may be amended provided that any proposed amendment shall not take effect until after approval has been obtained from the City of Edinburgh Council.