South West Stakeholders (SWSs) was established on 10th July 2009 as the successors to the Social, Economic and Environmental Partners (SEEPs) Group of the former South West Regional Assembly. It was agreed that the membership should initially consist of those organisations which belonged to the former SEEPs Group, together with representatives of each of the seven equality networks supported by Equality South West, representatives of Local Strategic Partnerships and Strategic Economic Partnerships in the South West. It was also agreed that other organisations which met the criteria for membership of SWSs would be considered for membership and since then both Regional Infrastructure for Social Enterprise and National House Builders’ Federation have been accepted as new members.

SWSs Executive has set up a small sub group to bring forward proposals for the incorporation of SWSs as a legal entity. On 10th December a draft constitution for SWSs was presented for consideration at the full SWSs executive.

The draft proposes, that each member organisation should from the time of adoption of the new articles of association, only exercise one vote at general meetings of either the full conference or the constituent groups (economic, social, environmental and other). Within the SEEPs South West Forum had four voting members and was expected to represent the whole VCS in the region.

The opportunity now exists for other VCS networks in the region which meet the criteria for membership to apply to join SWSs and increase the influence of the sector. There will be an annual subscription of £100 for each organisation.

For further details please contact roger@southwestforum.org.uk.