North East Biodiversity Forum

Present:

Mike Pratt (MP) - ChairNorthumberland Wildlife Trust

Andrew Smith (AS)Government Office North East

Nick Brodin (NB)Regional Biodiversity Coordinator

Gill Thompson (GT)NorthumberlandNational Park

Richard Hall (RH)Natural England

Stephen Morley (SM)National Trust

Stuart Pudney (SP)Northumbrian Water

Amanda Miller (AM)RSPB

Terry Coult (TC)Durham County Council

Andy Lees (AL)Durham Biodiversity Partnership

Phil Jones (PJ)North East Assembly

Angus Collingwood-Cameron (ACC)CountryLand and Business Association

Apologies: Caroline Stewart (NSP), Susan Stewart (ONE), Andrea Shaftoe (EA)

1Introductions

MP thanked everyone for their attendance and Environment Agencyfor acting as host.

AM was taking up one of 'open seats' at the meeting.

2Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

The minutes of the meeting of 27 September 2007 were agreed.

Matters arising:

North East Assembly Biodiversity checklist: PJ to circulated updated version

ACTION PJ

All other matters were dealt with in the main agenda.

3Progress towards Records Centre development in the region

A briefing paper was circulated prior to the meeting. There were two recommendations contained in this: i) That the Regional Biodiversity Group reconfirm that they wish to see the creation of a regional records centre in the North East as a matter of priority; and ii) The North East Biodiversity Forum set up a working group to progress the formation of a regional records centre as a matter of priority.

After discussion the Group agreed to accept both these recommendations. NB will progress the setting up of a working group to progress this matter ACTION NB

4 Wetland Feasibility Study

AM gave a presentation about the Wetland Feasibility study undertaken by Environment Agency and RSPB. GIS maps have been produced. These show land that could hold water based on soils, topography etc. These maps will need interpretation for non-experts. Apart from some major infrastructure no constraints on wetland creation has been included. Work is being done to establish whether a website can be set up. Data ownership issues are currently preventing the publication of the maps.

It is proposed to set up a steering group to progress this work. This steering group will be a sub-group of the North East Biodiversity Forum. Draft Terms of Reference were circulated for comment. The need to include Natural England on the steering group was raised by RH, who also identified the Tweed Forum and the Tyne Rivers Trust as potential members.

ACC warned about the need to avoid the perception that areas of land are designated for wetland creation because just because they have been identified as being suitable for wetlands as part of the study. MP raised the need to liaise with private landholders at an early stage.

AM will circulate redrafted Terms of Reference and set up an initial meeting in the early New Year ACTION AM

5Discussion item:Landscape-scale delivery in the North East

The discussion started with a recap on what various organisations were currently doing under the banner of ‘landscape-scale delivery’:

MP: The Wildlife Trusts nationally have set out their vision in the document Living Landscapes. In Northumberland there are aspirations to do work on DruridgeBay, the Border Mires, Kielderhead/Whitelee, and the Newcastle urban fringe. In Durham there are aspirations for the coast and the Magnesian Limestone plateaux, while TeesValley hope to work on the Tees estuary and in east Cleveland.

AS: Defra are taking an increasing interest in the role of ‘ecosystem services’. The England Biodiversity Strategy is looking at landscape-scale delivery as one of its 5 workstreams.

AM: RSPB have a programme called Futurescapes. This includes criteria on how to identify locations for landscape-scale activity.

RH: Natural England consider landscape-scale delivery to be an important part of their future activities. They are currently involved in work to set up an area-based partnership on the Magnesian Limestone and are looking at potential delivery along the Roman Wall corridor.

Everyone present was agreed about the importance of landscape-scale delivery but it was recognised that as a regional partnership the North East Biodiversity Forum needs to identify priorities and agree where activity is needed to fill the gaps. There is also a need to speak to large private estates as these have a history of what is effectively landscape-scale activity dating back many decades. The Biodiversity Forum needs to identify what it would like to see, where it needs to happen and how it should be achieved.

There is a need to define what is meant by ‘landscape-scale delivery’. The term is applied to many different types of activity, including area-based project programmes(e.g. MineralValleys, Bloom); single habitat, multi-site projects (e.g. Haytime, MAGical Meadows);projects to restore ecological connectivity/dynamics (e.g. Till Restoration Project); and even to whole organisations (e.g. AONBs, Community Forests). NB is currently trying to compile a list of landscape scale projects in the North East and will circulate the results ACTION NB

A number of organisations are also involved in opportunity mapping exercises within the region and there is a need for consistency between these and to ensure that there is common ownership of the approaches. All organisations on the Group need to keep each other informed about any such work they are doing so that they can be discussedACTION ALL

It was agreed that the Group needs to produce a Position Paper on landscape-scale delivery. This needs to include:

• A definition
• Supporting policies
• Review of current activity
• Identification of gaps
• Underlying principles that need to be addressed
• Identification of critical actions/consideration of how we make it happen

NB will draft an initial paper which the Group and the Biodiversity Forum membership can refine ACTION NB There was interest and discussion about holding a workshop for Forum members to refine this paper and to discuss approaches to opportunity mapping in the region.

6Update on NERC Duty Promotion/2008 Partnership Conference

NB updated the Group on activity to promote the NERC Biodiversity Duty. This will include the production of an awareness raising pack for the staff of public bodies and the holding of an event for marine and coastal public bodies on the 21st February 2007.

The 2008 Annual Partnership Conference will contain a NERC theme. It was agreed that a venue in the TeesValley should be sought. RH/AM/MP/SP agreed to act as a sounding boarding for the conference programme if needed.

7Update of activities by the Regional Biodiversity Coordinator

A summary paper was circulated by NB prior to the meeting and can be downloaded from the Biodiversity Forum website. NB also updated the Group about the headline results from the research into public attitudes towards biodiversity that the Biodiversity Forum had commissioned. These showed:

- Considerably fewer respondents can recall the term biodiversity compared to other environmental terms. Only 9% could, unprompted, give a correct definition.

There was considerable confusion amongst respondents as to the meaning of biodiversity. In particular, when asked to chose one of four possible meanings of the term 33% of respondents confused it with‘biodegradability’ and only 31% correctly understood that biodiversity referred tothe variety of living things.

- Respondents weremuch more likely to perceive that the loss of biodiversity was a problem in theworld rather than the North East.

There is a positive attitude towards the natural environment but in a largely passive way. People are less inclined to think about biodiversity or believe they canhelp stop the loss of biodiversity.

People most frequently visit natural areas close to towns, and mostlikely, near where they live. However, over half of respondents hadvisited a large, wild open space, e.g. KielderForest, within the last sixmonths.

Respondents were more likely to interact with the environment athome, with 73% having watched a TV programme about nature in thepast month.

Those living in rural areas appeared more aware of the term biodiversitybut urban dwellers provided responses that were more positivetowards the natural environment.

8National update

AS is attending the 6th December meeting of the Local and Regional Strategic Implementation Group on behalf of the Biodiversity Forum. David Henshilwood from Natural England has written to all the English regional biodiversity Fora confirming that regional biodiversity coordinator posts will be made permanent positions after March 2008.

Date of meetings in 2008

3March 2008 – 2pm Environment agency offices, Newcastle upon Tyne

3 June, 10am – venue tba

16 September, 10am – venue tba

9 December, 10am – venue tba

Appendix 1 – Summary of Action Points