CONSTITUTION

Name

The organisation shall be called, The Council Of Northern Caving Clubs.

Definition

• The Council is a voluntary association of responsible caving clubs.
• The Council cannot interfere with the individuality of any club.

Aims & Objects

• To ensure and maintain access to caves and potholes by negotiation and or agreements with farmers, landowners or authorities.
• To secure and maintain good relations, and act as general co-ordinating body between cavers and farmers, landowners, gamekeepers, local residents and other interested parties.
• To encourage and educate cavers to respect and conserve caves and the countryside.
• To represent the general interests of member clubs and northern cavers.
• To act as general disciplinary body and arbitrator in the event of any act considered detrimental to the Council as a whole.

Membership

• There are three classes of membership; Full, Associate and Honorary.
• Applications for full membership must be proposed and seconded by full member clubs before being considered by the committee.
• Full membership of the Council will only be granted to responsible and properly constituted clubs, which are owned and controlled by their own members, and are primarily based in the North of Britain.
• All paid up member clubs of the British Caving Association (BCA), unless already full members, will become Associate Member Clubs
• Honorary membership can only be granted to properly constituted cave rescue organisations.

Finance

• Funding will be via budget heads as defined by BCA.
• The Council shall have the power to raise funds from other sources.
• Should the C.N.C.C. be dissolved, for whatever reason, all assets belonging to the C.N.C.C. to be sold, the income from which, together with whatever funds are currently held in C.N.C.C. accounts, should be distributed evenly between the C.N.C.C. full member clubs.

Officers & Committee

• A working committee shall be elected every year at a General Meeting.
• The committee shall consist of fourteen members, each of whom will represent a different full member club.
• There shall be a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Conservation Officer and Training Officer who shall be members of different member clubs so far as this is possible, and will be subject to instruction from the Committee.
• The committee shall be empowered to co-opt additional members who shall not be eligible to vote.
• If a club which is represented on the committee fails to send a representative to two consecutive committee meetings without good reason being given in writing, the committee may elect another club to provide a committee member in its place.
• The committee shall meet at least three times per year as convened by the secretary.
• The secretary shall call a committee meeting if requested by three or more other members of the committee.
• A quorum at a committee meeting shall consist of six committee members, at least one of whom shall be an Officer of the Council.
• Minutes of committee meetings shall be taken and copies circulated to all full member clubs.
• Each member of the committee shall have one vote; the Chairman shall not have a casting vote.

General meetings

• The Annual General Meeting shall be held in February or March every year, and notice of any motion affecting the constitution must be in the hands of the secretary by the last day of November of the preceding year.
• A Special General Meeting shall be called if requested in writing by ten full member clubs, such request to include particulars of any proposed resolutions. The secretary shall issue written notice of such a meeting within four weeks of such a request. The meeting shall be held within eight weeks of the request.
• All members shall be sent notice of General Meetings at least four weeks in advance, and it shall include notice of any motion affecting the constitution.
• General Meetings shall be open to all member clubs but voting shall be restricted to one representative from each full member club present.
• Eight Full member clubs shall constitute a quorum at General Meetings.
• Minutes of General Meetings shall be taken and copies circulated to all full member clubs.
• The constitution shall only be amended at a General Meeting of the Council.

Access procedure

• Where special access arrangements have been drawn up between landowners and the Council the following procedure will apply.
• All rules and conditions must be adhered to as laid down in the respective agreements.
• All member clubs shall be issued with full details of agreements when completed or revised.
• The committee shall appoint Meets Secretaries as necessary to issue permits to visit caves and potholes covered by the agreements, in accordance with the stipulated conditions.
• Meets Secretaries shall be considered as co-opted committee members with no voting rights.
• Applications for permits will only be accepted from member clubs of the Council.
• The Meets Secretaries may restrict the issue of permits to a particular cave or area in accordance with the committee's instructions if;
  (i)the demand for access exceeds the available dates, or
  (ii)a threat to the agreement as a whole might arise as a consequence of some special circumstance.
• All member clubs accept responsibility for the activities and behaviour of their individual members and guests in the areas subject to the agreements.

General

• Member clubs shall apply for permission to enter any land and abide by any special conditions imposed.
• The Council can not accept liability of costs for any damage, fire, theft, legal fees, injury etc.
• In the event of a serious breach of the constitution by a member club, a Special General Meeting may be called to consider what disciplinary action should be taken, which may include recommendation of expulsion from BCA.