Member details

Type of Member	How Many?	How are they appointed?
Parish	5	Five Parish members are appointed by the Secretary of State after they are elected by Parish Councils in the National Park. Parish members must be either a Parish Councillor or the Chairman of a Parish Meeting. Parish members are appointed to ensure that local people are involved in the running of the National Park; they are representatives of the local people in the National Park as a whole not just their own parish. Their term of office usually ends when parish council elections are held (every four years) unless there is a casual vacancy in the meantime.
County Council	10	Local Authority members must be serving councillors of their appointing local authority (either Somerset Council or Devon County Council). The Environment Act requires the local authority to have regard to the desirability of appointing members who represent divisions or wards situated wholly or partly within the National Park boundary. They should also have relevant experience and close links to the National Park. Councillors must stand for re-election to their council every four years. The historic make-up of the National Park Authority changed following the formation of Somerset Council on 1 April 2023 8 x Somerset Council 2 x Devon Council
District Council	2	Local Authority members must be serving councillors of their appointing local authority (North Devon Council). The Environment Act requires the local authority to have regard to the desirability of appointing members who represent divisions or wards situated wholly or partly within the National Park boundary. They should also have relevant experience and close links to the National Park. Councillors must stand for re-election to their council every four years. The historic make-up of the National Park Authority changed following the formation of Somerset Council on 1 April 2023 2 x North Devon Council
Secretary of State	5	Five members are appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and are selected for their ability to represent a wider national viewpoint and for their specialist experience in relation to the particular character of the National Park. These Secretary of State appointed members are usually appointed for a period of four years but can be re-appointed, usually up to a maximum of eight years in total. Details will be included on the website when Secretary of State members are proposed to be appointed.
Total	22

Members' Code of Conduct: The Authority is required to promote and maintain high standards of conduct and to establish a Code of Conduct with which each Member must comply whenever acting in his/her official capacity.

Members' Interests: Under Exmoor National Park Authority's Code of Conduct, Members are required to register personal interests, for example: membership of bodies to which the Authority has appointed them; membership of bodies exercising functions of a public nature (eg Parish, District or County Council); membership of any organisation directed to charitable purposes; or membership of any organisation whose principal purposes include the influence of public opinion or policy or which might create a conflict of interest in carrying out the duties of a Member of Exmoor National Park Authority.

Under national rules, Members are also required to register their disclosable pecuniary interests, i.e. their business interests, for example their employment, trade, profession, contracts which they or any company with which they are associated have with the Authority, and wider financial interests they might have (for example investments and assets including land and property within the National Park). Members have a disclosable pecuniary interest if they or their spouse or civil partner has a pecuniary interest as described above; however there is no requirement to differentiate between those pecuniary interests that relate to the Member personally and those that relate to their spouse or civil partner. The declaration of pecuniary interests ensures that the public can have confidence that Members are putting the public interest first and not benefiting the financial affairs of themselves or their spouse or civil partner.

Details of Members' interests can be found on each individual Member page - available to view here. The full Register of Members' Interests is available for inspection at the Authority's offices at Exmoor House, Dulverton, Somerset. For further information please contact the Corporate Support Officer at committees@exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk or 01398 323665.

Members' Allowances: Members receive an allowance and the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 require the Authority to adopt a scheme of allowances before the start of each financial year: Details of the current Scheme of Members' Allowances can be found here.