3.1.2 Composition
In all cases the Board should be chaired by the SRO and comprise single representation of key stakeholders' and technical interests. In this respect the SRO will need to appoint to the Board with the agreement of the Authority's corporate management the following:
• a representative of partner WDAs;
• key senior managers involved;
• appropriate representation of stakeholders outside the Authority to ensure their on-going buy-in to the project;2 and
• one or two non-executive members who can offer neutral challenge to ensure that there is a sound and robust basis for decision-taking.3
In addition, a key member group is usually established, which will meet in parallel with Board meetings in order to maintain buy-in of the Authority. It may be appropriate to invite one or two members to sit on the Board itself, but given the Board essentially performs an executive function it would be inappropriate for the Board to be member-led or member-dominated.
The composition of the Board should be modified at the various stages of the project illustrated below. At each stage, the sufficiency of and linkages with other stakeholder groups should be reviewed and appropriate changes should then be brought in to suit changing demands. For example, during the operational phase of the Contract it may, in some circumstances, be appropriate to invite the Contractor to attend Board meetings.
Normally it would be expected that there would be no more than twelve Board members, but in no circumstances should it exceed twenty. The precise figure is likely to be influenced by the number of Authority partners to the project.
However, it should be recognised that a large Board can be unwieldy and inhibit the decision-making process.
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2 A single representative(s) of the partner WCAs in two-tier administrative areas may usefully be invited to sit on the Board.
3 One of these places should be given to the WIDP Transactor for the project.