5.—(1) Every committee of a local authority established under regulation 4 and every sub-committee of such a committee is to be treated—
(a)as a committee or sub-committee of a principal council for the purposes of Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972 (access to meetings and documents of certain authorities, committees and sub-committees) and
(b)as a body to which section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (1) (duty to allocate seats to political groups) applies.
(2) A committee of a local authority established under regulation 4, except an area committee established under regulation 4(2)(c), shall comprise a maximum of ten members or twenty per cent of the authority’s members, (calculated by rounding up the number of members to the nearest whole number when in calculating the percentage the number of members is not a whole number) whichever is the greater number.
(3) A local authority operating alternative arrangements shall allocate the chairpersonships of committees established under regulation 4 so as to secure, as far as practicable, that the balance of the political groups in the local authority is reflected by those chairpersonships.
(4) A planning committee, licensing committee or area committee established under regulation 4 or a sub-committee of such a committee with responsibility for any of the functions listed in Part A of Schedule 1 (functions relating to town and country planning and development control) shall have a minimum of eight members.
(5) Where a local authority establishes area committees—
(a)there shall be at least three such committees and they shall cover the whole of the local authority’s area; and
(b)each member of the local authority shall be entitled to be a member of one area committee.
(6) The Board may include the chairperson of the local authority’s planning committee and the chairpersons of area committees where such committees have been established in accordance with regulation 4(2).
(7) To the extent that a local authority’s powers in respect of its audit functions under any enactment may be delegated to a committee or sub-committee, a local authority may delegate to an audit committee.
(8) An audit committee established under 4(2)(d):
(a)shall not include any members of the Board; and
(b)shall not have a chairperson who is a member of the same political group as the Chairperson of the Board (except where there is only one political group); and
(c)may appoint one or more sub-committees; and
(d)may arrange for the discharge of any of its functions any such sub-committee.
(9) A sub-committee of an audit committee may not discharge any functions other than those conferred on it under paragraphs (7) and (8).
(10) An audit committee or any sub-committee of such a committee, may include persons who are not members of the authority, but any such persons shall not be entitled to vote at any meeting of such a committee or sub-committee on any question which falls to be decided at that meeting and shall not be entitled to be the chairperson of such a committee or sub-committee.
1989 c. 42. Section 18 is amended by section 99(3) to (9) of the Local Government Act 2000.