Minutes of Essex Biodiversity Project Steering Group 73rd meeting
10 am Thursday 10 February 2011
The Norton Room Essex Records Office Chelmsford CM2 6YT
Present: Charlie Williams, Helen Jacobs, Tony Morton, Matt Searle, Rebecca Banks, Mark Iley, Andy May, Steve Plumb, Julia Stansfield, Sarah Nicholas, Alex Cooper
Minutes: Debra Howard
Action73.00 / Apologies for absence: Peter Harvey, Peter Garrett, Darren Fazackerly
73.01 / Minutes of the 72nd meeting held on 4.11.2010. Charlie Williams pointed out that Layer Breton HLS had been applied for but no decision would be made until April. The previous minutes were otherwise agreed as correct.
73.02 / Coordinator and Project Officer report
· Julia Stansfield enquired whether EBP had carried out work for The Water for Wildlife Officer. Rebecca Banks confirmed that she had completed a report on the River Roding, carried out surveys and collected mink rafts from the river.
· Mark Iley thanked Tony Morton for his work the EBP website. Tony Morton gave a brief insight into the hits and searches on the website indicating that the Ruddy Duck was a very popular search. The website is proving useful and popular. Tony asked the steering group to contact him if there was anything they would like to be included on the website.
· The group was asked to give responses to funding for the previous/coming year and the following was reported:
Julia Stansfield for the Environment Agency – said that she has no promises but most certainly if money was made available, Julia informed the group that her core focus at present is delivering works to support Water Framework Directive.
Julia agreed to give a presentation at the next steering group meeting about The Water Framework Directive to give the group more information.
Charlie Williams for Natural England said he was in the process of signing paperwork to release the second instalment of this financial years funding to EBP. Any further funding is unsure until June following the restructure of Natural England.
Helen Jacobs for Essex and Suffolk Water Company informed the group that budgets were being cut but she is still hopeful and has applied for funding for EBP.
Darren Fazackerley for Harlow District Council has recently informed Mark that no further funding is available for EBP, Mark has informed Darren that Harlow DC and EBP can still work in partnership and withdrawal of funding would not affect them working together.
Matt Searle from Essex County Council said that budgets have been cut by 20% and as such funding would also be cut by this percentage. He informed the group that the work by EBP is consider vital and would be pushing to fund next financial year.
Sarah Nicholas of Uttlesford District Council was unsure at this moment in time whether any money would be available for EBP
Steve Plumb for Chelmsford Borough Council was also unsure about funding at present.
· A discussion took place regarding lack of certainty at this time for Biodiversity Groups across the country. EBP is in a stronger position than others due to partnership support, other groups purely have County Council funding and cuts are having a huge impact.
· Mark Iley spoke to the group about the EBP outputs spreadsheet distributed with the agenda, it was agreed that this information is useful to secure future funding from partners. He also highlighted that EBP has been able to complete a substantial amount of work.
· Charlie Williams commented that having 2 members of staff helps this to happen and proves extremely successful and other Biodiversity Groups are not hosted by Wildlife Trusts and this gives EBP an advantage. Matt Searle confirmed that a spreadsheet of work achieved helps him to gain funding and that he supports the work that EBP carry out. Julia Stansfield emphasised that working with volunteers, communities and parishes supported The Big Society. Andy May said that Essex Wildlife Trust totally supports the work of EBP and stressed that the steering group needed to give a clearer picture on how EBP should report back for the benefit of all partners. It is essential that EBP profile is raised. / MI/TM
JS
73.03 / Essex Biodiversity Action Plan
· Mark Iley confirmed that the EBAP was ready for final consultation, all updates received from Luke Bristow and Julia Stansfield would be amended and The Steering Group will have until 18 March 2011 for a launch by 31 March 2011
· Matt Searle thanked Mark Iley for putting the EBAP together.
· Tony Morton agreed to update the website with the new EBAP
· Mark Iley will write an introductory page to highlight the plus points, such as The Big Society and Locality. He will also promote the EBAP to planners at one of their forthcoming meetings
· Julia Stansfield told Mark Iley she would email her saltmarsh document for inclusion in the EBAP / MI
TM
MI
JS
73.04 / Feedback on EBP Annual event and Quality of Life Award Ideas and nominations for 2011 (suggested date 17 November 2011)
· On the whole the steering group agreed that the event was successful especially for networking. Mark Iley asked the steering group whether the same kind of event should be held this year.
· Julia Stansfield suggested that maybe a more workshop based event or a media event on site to raise EBP profile should be held to promote Big Society and working with the Local Community.
· Mark Iley informed the group that the event cost £2000 and questioned whether it was value for money.
· Several members of the group said that if good quality promotional photos are sent to the press, they often write a good story, which is always good promotion.
· The Steering Group agreed that the time of year for the event was good.
· Mark Iley asked for nominations for this year’s Quality of Life Award, good feedback had been received but Mark would also be grateful for any suggestions for improvement.
73.05 / Matters arising from the East of England Biodiversity Forum national and regional situation, IBDA
· Mark Iley reported to the group that the future is unclear at present. The white paper due to be released in July will set the agenda for perhaps the next 20 years
· Mark Iley is a member of the Thames Tributaries IBDA steering group and is keen to stay as a member to see how the IBDA develops. Mark will be attending a national meeting with reps from every IBDA in London in March and it is hoped that there will be more clarity for the projects future.
73.06 / EBP Officers contracts
· Andy May confirmed that 1 year contracts for both officers are in the process of being drawn up. EWT is keen to support the work of the EBP, it is also hoped that commercial and other funders will be sought. / AM/EWT
73.07 / Matters arising
· There were no matters arising
73.08 / Any other business
· A discussion took place about the cost of the group meeting 4 times a year. It was agreed that the EBP Steering Group will meet 3 times a year as it was felt that meeting any less would cause lack of communication. A free venue would be sought such as Hanningfield Visitors Centre or a meeting room at Essex and Suffolk Water Company. New dates and venues will be circulated as soon as possible.
· Helen Jacobs thanked Rebecca Banks and Mark Iley for their help in the last year and she said she was keen for this to continue.
· Rebecca Banks asked The Steering Group to contact her with any projects she could take forward on behalf of the group. / MI/HJ
Meeting closed at 11.35
Date of next meeting tbc