Constitution
The Constitution of this Committee is subject to S.35 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 and conforms to Guidance issued by the Department for Transport in December 2015 on Airport Consultative Committees.
Title
The Committee’s title is the Glasgow Prestwick Airport Consultative Committee and is also known by the acronym GPACC.
Purpose
The Committee’s purpose is to enable the Airport operator, communities in the vicinity of the Airport, local authorities, local business representatives, Airport users and other interested parties to exchange information and ideas.
Officers of the Committee
- The Chairman of the Committee is appointed, as empowered by the Department for Transport Guidelines.
- The term of Office for the Chairman will be for a minimum of three years.
- The Chairman may in due course appoint a Vice-Chairman.
- The Secretary to the Airport Consultative Committee will be independent and responsible for servicing all Committee and Sub-Committee meetings.
Membership
The Committee consists of Members appointed or drawn from a range of organizations, for details of the members of the Committee and any Sub-Committees – see the Membership Page
- Membership of the Committee will be reviewed by the Committee every three years.
- A representative body may by written notice to the Secretary change their nominated representative on the Committee.
- If possible the term of office for members should be more than one year. Where a member is unable to attend, he or she may send a notified deputy of suitable standing. The details of nominated deputies should be communicated to the Secretary in advance of any meeting.
Meetings
- The Committee will meet quarterly at 2.00pm on a Friday in the Terminal Building, Glasgow Prestwick Airport or at such places and times as the Committee may determine.
- If business so requires, the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman will call an extraordinary meeting.
- The Secretary will circulate an agenda to every Member of the Committee at least five working days before each meeting, specifying the business to be considered.
- Urgent business may be considered without notice at the discretion of the Chairman.
Order of Business
- Normal order of business which may vary at the discretion of the Chairman will be:
(i) To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.
(ii) To consider any outstanding business from the previous meeting.
(iii) To receive any announcements from the Chairman.
(iv) To receive minutes of (any) sub-committees.
(v) To receive a progress report from the airport operator
(vi) To consider the business specified on the agenda.
Quorum
- The Committee will not make formal decisions unless at least one quarter of the organisations entitled to be represented on the Committee are present.
Minutes
- The Secretary will record the decisions of the Committee and submit them to the next meeting as minutes, subject to the agreement of the Chairman.
Notice of Items for Agendas
- Any items submitted to the Secretary by a Member at least ten working days before a meeting will be included on the agenda for that meeting.
Voting
- It is expected that matters will be resolved by consensus and that votes will only be taken on the membership of the Committee and sub-committees.
- In the event of an equal vote, the Chairman will be empowered to exercise a casting vote.
Disclosure of Personal Interests
- If a Member has a personal interest (whether financial or otherwise) in any Committee or Sub-committee business, he or she must inform the Chairman before the matter is discussed, and leave the room during discussion on the matter.
- The Committee may appoint sub-committees to assist the work of the Committee with such membership and powers as the Committee may decide.
- This Constitution will apply to meetings of Sub-Committees except that:
(i) A Sub-Committee will appoint a Chairman at its first meeting.
(ii) No business will be conducted unless at least three Members are present at a meeting.
(iii) Frequency, dates and places of meetings will be at the discretion of a Sub-Committee.
- The Committee will review the number and composition of any Sub-Committee and may alter its membership or powers or disband it at any time.
Urgent Business
- With the prior approval of the Chairman, the Secretary may take any action on an urgent matter which cannot await the next meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee.
- The action taken will be reported to the next meeting of the Committee or Sub-Committee.
Advisors
- The Committee may call upon advisors to assist them in their deliberations. Such advisors should not intervene in Committee proceedings unless invited to do so by the Chairman.
Public Access to Meetings
- The wider local community shall be made aware of the existence of the Consultative Committee and its role in relation to the Airport’s operation and how it may be contacted.
- Meetings of the Committee will not normally be public meetings but as an exception may be open to the press and public at the discretion of the Chairman.
Confidential Items of Business to be considered by the Committee or Sub-Committee
- An item of business which in the opinion of the Chairman is confidential in nature shall not be circulated to the press or public, and shall be included at the end of the agenda to enable it to be dealt with by the Committee or Sub-Committee in the absence of the press and public. Decisions about confidentiality shall be made by the Chairman in consultation with the Secretary and the Chief Executive of the Airport.
Complaints
- Complaints may be referred to the Committee. However, the Committee is not an arbiter of final resort and it will not normally investigate individual complaints. Where, exceptionally, the Committee decides in the wider interest to review a complaint the details are to be anonymised so that identities cannot be determined.
- A summary of complaints regarding air quality and the results of the air quality monitoring programme, together with a summary of noise complaints will be provided annually to the Committee by the airport operator.
