Draft Minutes

Local and Regional Strategy Implementation Group Meeting

7 June 2007–London

Present
Paul Cobbing (Chair)
Donna Radley (Natural England)
Louise Vall(Defra)
Dean Davies(Defra)
Andrew Smith(Government Office North East)
David Switzer(Local Government Association)
Tim Bines(Parnassia)
Ray Perrins(Natural England)
Mike Kinghan(West Mids Wildlife Trusts/West Mids Chair)
Charlotte Gault(East Mids Wildlife Trusts)
Pete Brotherton(Natural England)
Andrea Shaftoe(Environment Agency)
Apologies
Chris Mahon(Wildlife Trust)
Lyn Jenkins (Environment Agency/South West Chair)
Paul Wilkinson(Wildlife Trusts/East of EnglandChair)
Nigel Bourn(Butterfly Conservation)
Pete Massini(Natural England)
Will Williams(Natural England/North West Chair)
Jeff Edwards(Natural England)

Welcome and Introductions

The Chair welcomed the group and there was a brief round of introductions.The Chair announced that he was currently on secondment to Defra but would be able to continue as Chair for the time being.

Agenda Item 1 - Minutes and Matters arising from meeting on 28 February 2007

1. PC gave an update on the action points from the last meeting:

AP6 from 10 May - LJ with support from RK, PC, SH and JE to develop action plan for engaging with the bigger distributors and circulate to group -Lyn Jenkins and Paul Wilkinson have had a meeting with Entrustbut not present at this meeting, Secretariat to follow up with them for next meeting.

AP10 from10 May - Landscape Scale Approaches - DR and RK to feedback discussion to EN and to investigate what EN is doing in this area – Secretariat to follow up with RK No longer a group member should we still follow up?

AP3 - from 10.8.06 - PW, PC, SH WW and KM to form a review group take forward the development of an economic benefits crib sheet - Following discussions on how best to progress thisPhil Lewis from the Biodiversity Policy Unit had raised this issue with the Economics and Funding Workstream. They are keen to work with other groups but need a clear idea of what is required.They would be working up a '5 or 6' page 'glossy' summarising and promoting the economic benefits work done so far. The L&R SIG thought this could also meet their needs but that case studies would also be useful. Mike Kinghan agreed to take part in this work on behalf of the L&R SIG - discharged.

AP5 - from 10.08.06 Lesley Anderson(LA) to send feedback on EEDA review of hosted posts- not discharged, LA not present at this meeting. Secretariat to follow up. Emailed Lesley 25 June 2007.

Action Point 1- RK to circulate his paper on Bars to the group - paper presented by Charlotte Gault at this meeting – see agenda.

Action Point 2 - DR to organise a presentation on BARS for the next meeting. Pete Brotherton to give presentation today -discharged.

Action Point 3 - NW to circulate summary of his groups BARS action for the next meeting - not discharged Secretariat to contact NW. Emailed Nick 25 June 2007.

Action Point 4- Group to provide feedback on NERC events at the next meeting.To be discussed later in the meeting.

Action Point 5- Secretariat to make changes to work programme to reflect discussions and circulate to group - discharged.

Action Point 6 – Secretariat to send Regional Chairs details to Corinna.– discharged.

Agenda Item 2 Feedback from March EBG/Workshop – PC

2.The chair gave some feedback from the EBG meeting/Ministerial Workshopon 1stMarch 2007:

EBG had received feedback on a Ministerial work shop held on 1 March to discuss refreshing the biodiversity partnership. This looked at exploring the ecosystem approach as the guiding principle for future action planning, and streamlining the bureaucracy surrounding the BAP. Key points from the meeting included the need to achieve greater clarity over the roles of at different spatial levels, an increasing emphasis on Habitat Action Plans to achieve resilient ecosystems, and the need to improve delivery at a regional level by articulating the implications of the revised England targets.

ActionPoint 1 - PC to send examples of ecosystem approach in action.

PC talked about a report on climate change adaptation for the deliverables of each of the EBS workstreams which was presented to the EBG by the Chair of the Climate Change Adaptation SIG. This was due out later in the month and further work with the EBS groups was planned for October. (Dean – check this with Steve M as there seems to be a bit of confusion about this document).

The group also discussed the recent guidance on conserving biodiversity and climate change published by Defra on 22 May.

Action Point 2- Secretariat to send web link to group – discharged, link sent to group 8 June 2007.

PC then discussed Doug Hulyers communication strategy which was presented to EBG. The purpose of the document is to improve communications within and outside the biodiversity partnership, improve understanding of communication, identify what the partnership needs to communicate and to whom etc. Each SIG had been asked to confirm whether the right messages had been identified for their workstreams. The group agreed that broadly the key issues were right but a more detailed session on communications would be needed at a future meeting.

Action Point 3 - send Doug’s draft strategy to the group.

Agenda Item 3 BARS Reporting System – Pete Brotherton

3.Pete Brotherton gave an overview of the Biodiversity Action Reporting System. Designed with contributions from Natural England, Environment Agency, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Executive, Scottish National Heritage and the Wales Biodiversity Partnership.

Information held on the system includes national habitat and species action plans, local BAPs and country biodiversity strategies. The data can be updated by the steering groups of HAPs and SAPs and local biodiversity partnerships at any time via a secure user area. Information can be obtained and filtered in various ways by members of the public. The system has the potential to meet many national, regional and local reporting needsbut this depends upon the quality of the data it holds.

The group then discussed the East Midlands Biodiversity Forum’s paper on BARS. Charlotte Gault highlighted some issues they have had with the system after a survey of users in the regional fora, some of the main issues were:

  • Insufficient data are in the system to enable the East Midlands to report accurately against regional BAP targets.
  • The feeling is that organisations are not using the system as they should because of lack of training for the appropriate people
  • Not all NGO’s have embraced the system
  • Who is responsible for updating information
  • What level are organisations reporting on
  • What is the role of LBAP coordinators

Pete Brotherton replied to some of Charlotte’s questions. He provided re-assurance that training is available from Natural England and that recent developments of the system meant that it had become easier to use. The forthcoming LBAP Guidance will have further advice on using BARS.

The group discussed what the EBG or this group can do to encourage better use of the system and it was suggested that Charlotte and Pete/Megan Ellershaw may be best placed to write a paper together for the EBG. Pete agreed to put together a short guide on extracting information from BARS for users.

Action Point 4 – CG and ME to write a paper for the EBG

Action Point5 – PB/ME to draft a guide on extracting information for the group

Agenda Item 4 - Biodiversity Duty/Guidance

4.LVgave an update on the NERC Duty guidance. This has been published on 22 May to coincide with International Biodiversity Day and is available on the Defra website A number of promotional events are being planned and Defra/NE are currently discussing support for regional/local promotion activities with the Regional Biodiversity Co-ordinators.

Members of the group reported that a number of activities are taking place/being planned to engage public authorities and promote the duty including establishing councillors’ networks, identifying regional champions, engaging planners through targeted events, and the possibility of developing marine guidance. It was agreed that this group had a continuing role in promoting the duty to public bodies.

DS highlighted that when approaching local authorities it was important to make the case in the context of local authority priorities, not just from a biodiversity perspective.

LVtalked about the LBAP Conference where the duty and guidance will be discussed with LBAPs. DS suggested that the Secretary of State’s speech at the LGA’s Conference in July could also be an opportunity to raise the duty. The group also suggested that it may be useful for members to contact Defra facing Directors in Government Offices and sustainability officers in Regional Development Agencies.

It was agreed that the guidance and duty would be placed on the agenda for review at future meetings to share good practice and explore what more could be done.

Agenda Item 5 Workplan - future items for discussion at next meeting

5.The Chair went through the groups workplan, and updated the group on the actions completed and/or still in progress.

Funding – members of the group agreed that information on what was happening with NE funding for regional/local partnerships after the end of 2007 was needed soon for planning purposes. DR said that Natural England have strong support from their Chief Executive for the regional/local biodiversity agenda and it was expected that further information on future funding would be available in the autumn. Donna Radley offered to circulate memorandum of agreements for Regional Coordinator posts to the group for comment.

Policy influence –NERC Guidance already discussed.

Breathing Places - the group reflected that there had been some difficulties engaging with the BBC to date due to programming schedules. Donna Radley mentioned a meeting with the BBC soon, offered to take any points the group might have to the meeting to enable more effective and closer working.

The new BBC lead on the Breathing Places project was keen to work with the biodiversity partnership and had agreed to speak at the LBAP seminar in September so this was another good opportunity to engage.

Agenda items for the next meeting

Follow up work on BARS from CG and ME.

Item on Economics and Funding Group SIG engagement.

Regional Coordinators updates on NERC Guidance

Communication Strategy after 27 June 2007.

Confirmation of future meetings.

Agenda Item 6 – Indicators

6.Louise Vall updated the group on the indicators task group which met on 18th April.

LV informed the group of the proposed Defra indicators for the new local government performance framework and said that they would be put on the Defra website for comments and that she would circulate the link once this was live.

At the first meeting on 18 April the group agreed that this would be a two stage process. Firstly to establish what indicators are currently being utilised or are being developed/considered at a regional and local level (focusing on RES, RSS and LDFs), and secondly to draw together a suite of indicators which can be promoted as good practice for use in regional/local plans.

The group discussed next steps towards bringing the indicators together. It was thought that any analysis of the existing indicators would need to be done with people who have experience with indicators. Regional co-ordinators (via Jeff Edwards) had been asked to provide information on indicators in their regions. It was agreed that to assist with the exercise a template would be circulated to the Regional co-ordinators at their next meeting. LV/DR offered to raise this at the next meeting. The L&R SIG were also asked to feed in any information they have or know of on indicators. The next step would be to review the indicators at the September meeting.

AOB

7.Donna Radley distributed copies of the LBAP Conference draft programme in September and asked for comments from the group to be sent to her.

8.Future meetings

3rd September 2007 – Government Office for the West Midlands, Birmingham

6th December 2007 London(to be confirmed)

27th February 2008 Birmingham(to be confirmed)

1