Memorandum (Annex to Terms of Reference)

The East of England Environment Forum

1Historical background

1.1The terms on which the Voluntary Regional Assemblies were created in 1998 included the requirement that a minimum of 30% of the seats should be offered to non-political institutions, later to be termed stakeholder seats. The three main categories into which these institutions would fall were social, economic and environment. Institutions seeking seats would have to demonstrate that they truly represented their relevant constituencies across the region. The Government accreditation of the Assembly was held back until the Assembly had demonstrated that the requirement would be met by the bodies nominating to seats.

1.2In 1998 there was no institution which could be held to represent regional environmental interests. EEEF came about through a request to Richard Powell of RSPB (who had applied for a seat on EEDA) by the Government Office (now GO-East) to initiate the formation of an appropriate body to represent the environment. Richard Powell worked first with Simon Garnier of National Trust, and then Anthony Eastwood of CPRE and others to bring together key environmental interests at a meeting at Blickling on 8th January 1999. This was the creation of EEEF and Michael Allen was chosen for nomination to the Assembly. Anthony Eastwood was appointed initial chairman and subsequently co-opted Simon Garnier as deputy chairman (subsequently elected chairman). A steering group was tasked to produce the initial constitution and this was agreed on 17th February, 1999.

1.3The Assembly requires EEEF primarily to represent voluntary sector interests, but from the start key statutory bodies have also been full members of EEEF and this has proved a major strength. This has generally not been the case in other regions, in some cases the two sides viewing each other with suspicion.

1.4EEEF’s initial membership totalled some 11 bodies (six voluntary and five statutory). There are now some 20 members, plus GO-East and EEDA representatives.

1.5EEEF initially met four times a year, with steering group meetings interspersed between the full forum meetings. From time to time ad hoc working groups have met. Recently a series of task groups has been established. The chairman and the Assembly representative have, as needed, consulted other members on short-timescale matters as these have arisen.

1.6From initial formation EEEF has very effectively been served by a Secretariat provided by the RSPB in Norwich – Claire Smith. The possible provision of a part-time co-ordinator or policy officer was considered, but not advanced, it being felt that this would cut across work being carried out by others.

1.7EEEF’s finances have until recently been provided on a minimal footing by its members. However, certain new funding streams are being made available, largely tied to specific projects. Even so, the overall funding available to the Environment Forum is overshadowed by that available to the social forum (COVER), and to economic interests (EEDA).

1.8From its inception in 1999, the Regional Agenda – the various regional processes taken as a whole – has expanded and geared-up to a remarkable degree. EEEF can claim to be well established at the heart of the Regional Agenda and well connected with those regional processes relevant to it. Virtually all facets of the environment are now covered by EEEF and EEEF as the voice of the environment is well respected, backed up, as it is, by the credibility of its individual members. EEEF seeks to preserve its well focussed approach by avoiding the temptation to match the developing regional agenda in aspects that do not relate directly to its core interests.

2Current Developments

2.1EEEF has three main drivers – the Assembly (EERA), the Development Agency (EEDA), and the Government Office (GO-East). The key driver is the Assembly, with which EEEF is effectively in close partnership. The relationship with EEDA is different: EEEF is essentially a stakeholder in EEDA’s key processes. The GO-East relationship is again different, in essence GO-East is EEEF’s patron, central government requiring that there should be environment fora to play a direct part in the debates about the future of each region.

2.2The key recent development is the expansion of the Assembly and the increase from one to four seats for the environment, with EEEF being accredited as the electoral college for three of these seats (- the fourth going to the Sustainable Development Round Table, SDRT). EEEF’s three seats are nominally to cover:

  • the natural environment
  • the wildlife environment
  • the historic environment

2.3Other environment fora have recently come into being covering the biodiversity and historic sectors. These are not formally related to EEEF, but in essence they can be seen as highly complimentary and supporting associates, and their views are sought in nominating EEEF individuals to Assembly seats.

2.4Various other largely non-environmental fora have also come into being, with which EEEF will work, for example - the cultural forum.

2.5EEEF is linked into various other bodies and projects, first by virtue of formal representation (eg the Rural Affairs Forum) and second by virtue of individuals’ own appointments. This gives for an exceptionally broad network for intelligence and influencing.

2.6A major development in government planning thinking is the introduction of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) as an extension of the former Regional Planning Guidance (RPG). RSS will be more important than RPG in that it will be a statutory instrument produced by the statutory strategic regional planning body, which is the Regional Assembly. An Integrated Regional Strategy (IRS) will incorporate specific sub-strategies, for instance, the Regional Environment Strategy – jointly owned by the Assembly and EEEF. Hence, this presents the opportunity for EEEF’s positive input into the regional development processes.

2.7The Regional Economic Strategy (RES) developed by EEDA is also a key instrument into which EEEF’s input is essential. The relationship with EEDA is important and EEEF seeks to develop an effective working relationship.

2.8The GO-East two-way relationship is much valued and will be built upon. This is a link into central government policy development and to specific consultations, where EEEF’s freedom to project its own views is not seen as being compromised by the GO-East link. The constructive link with GO-East has the basis for two-way initiatives.

2.9The importance of European (EU) environment legislation and environment-related funding is very clear. EEEF’s primary connection with the above is via the Assembly and Michael Allen’s personal place on the Europe panel. EEEF members also have their own incidental links into EU processes. EEEF is open to developing a more direct link with Europe.

3Operational Arrangements

3.1Membership is open to those environment-related bodies having regional structures and regional policy-making functions. Other bodies not so qualified may be considered for membership if they are directly relevant to EEEF’s processes. Key entities to which EEEF relates, such as GO-East and EEDA, are welcome as associates. Members of EEEF are expected to nominate a lead person and an alternate as the primary contact and attendee.

3.2Officers comprise the chairman and two vice-chairmen, elected by the membership in ordinary meeting, the chairman and at least one vice-chairman to be from the voluntary sector. The Officers will serve for three years and individuals may be re-elected for one further term. For the sake of continuity, so far as is practicable, the terms of the officers will be staggered. The Officers, together with the lead Assembly representative, will be responsible for ad hoc decisions, etc, between forum meetings and for general liaison with other bodies.

3.3The Secretariat will be appointed by the membership on such a basis as shall be most expedient and an appropriate budget shall be agreed on an annual basis. The Secretariat’s term of service shall be considered to be continuing, subject to a six-month notice period from either party. The Secretariat will report to the chairman and will provide continuity of administration. From time to time the work of the Secretariat may be augmented by additional paid or unpaid personnel, including a co-ordinator and/or temporary staff on a full or part-time basis.

3.4An Annual Budget will be prepared by the Secretariat in discussion with the chairman and in the context of the Forward Work Programme (see 3.8) and will be agreed by the Forum. Funding for the basic operation of EEEF will in principle be sought from the membership, so that EEEF will be seen as self-supporting. Funding for specific tasks and projects, and the pursuit of particular initiatives, will be sought first from appropriate external sources, which may include certain members of the Forum.

3.5Meetings of the full forum will be held six times a year, and at varying locations hosted, where possible, by member bodies. Meetings will normally occupy a morning and be concluded with a simple lunch. The chairman will be responsible for finalising each agenda, which will be circulated in advance by the Secretariat. Agendas will focus on core business and may include a formal presentation, by a member of EEEF or an invited body, on a matter of key interest or policy debate. In addition, on other occasions, EEEF may arrange, or invite others to arrange, seminars or workshops on subjects of specific interest.

3.6Supporting Meetings of specific task groups and similar will be held as appropriate. Such groups will be responsible for specific tasks and for pre-digesting business of the main meetings, and will be formed on a task-and-finish basis.

3.7EEEF's Base Tasks are to provide appropriate input into all the relevant regional processes and in particular to provide a single collective response on behalf of the environment sector to formal and other consultations. Such work will generally be led by the most appropriate member(s). Diversity of views between members in working towards fuller understanding is seen as a particular asset in achieving an acceptable and valuable consensus.

3.8A Co-ordinated Forward Work Programme will be prepared annually, looking ahead one year in detail and a further year in outline, to be updated regularly. This programme will seek to order and pre-prepare, and so streamline the business of the main forum meetings, allowing them to concentrate on key policy deliberation and decisions. The programme will timetable the workload and will allocate work in the most effective way, using task groups as appropriate, and will cover the work required to respond to outside initiatives and incoming consultations, as well as areas of work which EEEF chooses to cover for its own reasons. The forum may choose to appoint a co-ordinator or co-ordinating group to be responsible for the forward work programme.

3.9Related Fora may be invited into membership of EEEF and would be expected to play a full workload-sharing part in EEEF’s activities, including the selection of nominations to Assembly seats. Related fora seeking only a watching brief may be invited in as associates.

3.10Nominations to the Regional Assembly will be agreed by the full membership in open meeting according to the needs of the Assembly’s timetable and may be reviewed in due course at the Forum’s discretion. In making its selection of the nominations the Forum will pay due regard to the views of those interests to which the individual seats are specifically related. However, as a fundamental principle each nomination to the Assembly will be specifically responsible for representing the full range of EEEF’s interests. The Forum may designate one nomination as the lead representative.