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Principles
3. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2005 1 ("the Act") places a duty on the Scottish Ministers to create regional transport partnerships covering the whole of Scotland. RTPs will bring together local authorities and other key regional stakeholders to take a strategic approach to transport in the region. The core task of all RTPs will be to draw up a regional transport strategy. Some partnerships will also be responsible for the delivery of transport services and initiatives and all RTPs will be able to take on additional powers in order to ensure the implementation of their strategy.
4. The majority of members will be drawn from local authorities within the region - the constituent councils. The number of councillor members to be appointed by each constituent council is set out in The Regional Transport Partnerships (Establishment, Constitution and Membership) (Scotland) Order 2005 ("the Order"). Around a third of the membership is drawn from outside the councils and one of the purposes of this document is to guide the appointment of these "other members".
5. Ministers have agreed that the principles of appointment on merit and in a proportionate and non-exclusive way should apply where appointments to a body fall outwith the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland, as in the case of RTP appointments. Principles which should govern the selection and appointment of members:
- transparency;
- appointment on merit - the best person for the role should be appointed;
- achieving a balance among the non-councillor membership.
6. Where possible, non-councillor members should have a broad geographical interest rather than any particular local interest.
7. Nomination by local authorities of councillor members is entirely a matter for the respective councils. However, there is likely to be benefit in appointing councillors with responsibility for transport (as an executive member or as the member of the relevant council committee) or a closely linked subject such as planning, economic development or the environment.
8. In general, the number of councillor members has been allocated on the basis of relative population within the partnership area.
9. Ministers and RTPs can both appoint advisers (described in the legislation as "observers") who can participate in proceedings but who may not hold office in the RTP or participate in its decisions. Beyond that there could be a range of possible ways in which advisers could participate in the work of RTPs, bringing additional skills or particular expertise to the table, offering a different perspective, or assisting in cross-boundary working. This may be particularly helpful in small RTPs where the number of other members that can be appointed may be quite low.
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