4.38 Joint working necessarily means that the authorities do pass responsibility for decision making to the Joint Committee and accept the decisions taken by the Joint Committee, of which they are a part. But joint working will only deliver benefits if each of the constituent authorities is happy with the way it is operating, and is satisfied that it is getting a fair share of the benefits. So it is important that each authority feels that it in control of the process.
4.39 One of the ways of doing this is for careful consideration to be given to the matters which are reserved to the individual authorities. In every case the right balance needs to be struck between empowering the Joint Committee to be able to make significant decisions in the collective interests of each of the councils, and ensuring appropriate control and engagement by each council.