The BioPartner

2nd Edition, Winter 2003

CAG Consultants to take forward the Partnership Development Phase

We have recently chosen CAG Consultants to carry out a series of consultation exercises with our partners and stakeholders to determine the future structure, governance and core funding of the Partnership.  As part of their work CAG will carry out extensive market research into the feasibility of setting up a corporate ‘Wildlife Champions’ scheme that together with the recently published Funding Strategy will seek to secure much needed funding for our HAPs and SAPs.
CAG is planning to hold their first event in late January, further information will be sent out shortly.

Action Plan Review

The review of Round 1 Action and Generic Plans continues with the publication date for Volume 3 (originally taking place in December) now planned for the end of March.  As this is our first Action Plan review please bear with us as we send the recommendations from the HS&D group to the appropriate Leads for consideration.  We are trying to produce a document with SMART objectives, ensuring consistency of style across all HAPs and SAPs and accessible not only to practitioners but also to a wider audience.  We are also planning to circulate Volume 3 to the whole Partnership and the LBBF for comments at the end of February as it is important to obtain a general consensus.  At the end of the review we will be evaluating the whole process in order to improve our system in preparation for next year’s review of Round 2 Action Plans, please let the group know your views.

Green flags for London’s biodiversity

A record 22 parks and open spaces of biodiversity interest in London (out of 42 winners in the capital) won Green Flag Awards this year, announced by Yvette Cooper, Minister for Parks & Open Spaces, at a ceremony in Stratford-on-Avon on 6th November.  Some of these are renowned for their conservation management, and include Epping Forest, Farthing Downs, Highgate Wood, Bedfont Lakes Country Park, Foots Cray Meadows, and Hampstead Heath.  Others, such as Gillespie Park and Forest Lane Park are already notching up regular Green Flags (it is an annual award), and proving that its not just the larger outer London sites can demonstrate good practice.  New winners for 2003 include Dagenham Parish Churchyard (managed by London Wildlife Trust), described by its judge as “a gem, a little oasis”, Chinbrook Meadows (managed by Glendale on behalf of LB Lewisham; an “impressive wildlife area”) and Riddlesdown (Corporation of London). Epping Forest was also awarded a special Green Heritage Site award in recognition of the management of its historical ecology, including 55,000 ‘veteran’ trees. 

In total, 182 green spaces – 57 more than last year – across England and Wales will be flying a Green Flag throughout 2004; a huge increase on the first year of the award scheme, 1997, when only 7 were awarded.  The Green Flag Award scheme is the national standard for parks and green spaces.  Managed by the Civic Trust (with support from CABE Space, ODPM, English Nature, English Heritage, Countryside Agency and others), the scheme recognises the value of green spaces to communities, particularly in urban areas, and rewards excellent standards of green space management.  For details contact the Civic Trust’s northern office, northernoffice@civictrust.org.uk or 0151 709 1969.

New signatories of the Partnership’s Memorandum of Understanding

The Woodland Trust and the London Borough of Havering have now become the latest signatories of the Partnership’s MoU committing themselves to make the delivery of biodiversity conservation in London more effective.  With these two new partners there are now 34 signatories of which 9 are London Boroughs.

Record Centre Update

Following the LBP funded consultation in August 2003, a shadow steering group has been established in order to begin work on the development phase of an independent open space and biodiversity records centre for London.  'Greenspace Information for Greater London' (GIGL) will develop and expand the systems and data holdings built up over the last 7 ½ years by the London Wildlife Trust's Biological Recording Project, in order to become a fully-established records centre by 2006.  Details of the products and services that will be available during the 2nd year development phase will be distributed shortly to the identified partners, along with information where relevant, on service level 
agreements and contract options. For further information, please contact:

John Archer, Greater London Authority / Chair of GIGL Shadow Steering 
Group on 020 7983 4314
Mandy Rudd, London Wildlife Trust on 020 7921 5464

Movers and Shakers 

•	Mary Norden (British Waterways) has stood down as Chair of the Habitat, Species and Data working group after a year of dedicated service to the Partnership.  Mary will carry on as a member of the group and a new Chair will soon be appointed.  We would like to thank Mary for her contribution towards improving the strategic direction of our BAP.

•	Gavin Measures, chair of the Sand Martin SAP, has moved to greener pastures in the south west. The RSPB will continue leading this SAP and Gavin’s replacement will be in place in the New Year.

•	Rachel Cook (English Nature) has taken over from Anne Homyer  (BTCV) as the chair of the Communications Working Group.  Please contact Rachel (Rachel.Cook@english-nature.org.uk) if you want any advice or guidance on external communications.  Please get in touch with Rachel if you are planning any events in the next couple of months.

Neighbourhoods go green

Two partners – English Nature and Peabody Trust – together with Notting Hill Housing Group and CABE Space, organised Neighbourhoods Green on 1st December at Regent’s College, the first conference to address the green spaces in and around social housing.  Opened by Yvette Cooper, the Minister for Parks & Open Spaces, the conference featured case studies of innovative landscaping on housing estates in Sweden and Germany, together with some of the community regeneration work of Sheffield Wildlife Trust.  Workshops to look at biodiversity, design, children’s play, community participation and funding identified some of the key issues that need to be addressed to ensure that green spaces owned and managed by housing associations and local authority housing departments fulfil their potential.  Neighbourhoods Green ended with a clear endorsement for a London Housing Greenspace Network, to be linked to the London Parks & Green Spaces Forum.  This will act as an information change, identify champions for green spaces within housing associations and develop training and guidance on a range of specific themes.  Notting Hill Housing Group and Peabody Trust have submitted a bid to the ODPM to fund this work over a 3 year period.  For further details contact Mathew Frith, Mathew2@peabody.org.uk or 020 7021 4422.

New ministry with urban environmental remit announced.

Following the publication of Lord Haskin’s much awaited report on the 11th November, Secretary of State Margaret Beckett has issued a statement recommending the creation of a new streamlined ministry responsible for rural delivery.  The new agency, which will amalgamate elements of the work currently carried out by English Nature, the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service, will be committed to reducing the bureaucracy and inaccessibility which has to date characterised the Government’s approach to rural policy.  

As well as implementing policy, the new agency will provide DEFRA with independent policy advice.  It will furthermore work to attain the effective stewardship of the land whilst conserving and improving the natural environment and its biodiversity across rural, urban, marine and coastal England.  Legislation which formalises arrangements for the agency is to follow soon.  In addition, there will be:  

•	A full review of rural funding schemes to simplify application procedure.
•	A reduction in the size of the Countryside Agency, which will now focus on providing independent policy advice and delivery best practice guidelines to the Government from a national perspective on issues affecting rural communities.  
•	A change in the way policy is delivered by DEFRA, with devolution leading to greater effectiveness and accountability at regional and local levels.
•	A three-yearly review of the Rural White Paper.  Together with the Haskins report and a study of the economic performance of rural areas undertaken by Birbeck College, the review will inform a new rural strategy to be announced early 2004.

The announcement has been met with cautious support by the UK’s conservation community, which insists biodiversity must remain a top priority for the Government.  Both the RSPB and Butterfly Conservation have voiced concern for the future independence of English Nature as the voice of UK wildlife.  

Within the urban context, the proposed institutional changes are likely to have important implications for the way in which partners operate.  Beyond this, however, it remains to be seen whether the focus of recent developments on rural issues will produce a new agency that lacks the commitment to urban biodiversity seen in recent decades and championed by English Nature.

Green Places

A new journal promoting green spaces was launched on 2nd December, published by the Landscape Design Trust (titles include Landscape Design and Landlines).  Green Places will clearly complement the work of CABE Space, Green Space and others on implementing the Government’s green space policies, and should hopefully reflect the full spectrum of spaces found within our cities, from community gardens and city squares to biodiversity-rich wetlands and woodlands.  Julia Thrift, Director of CABE Space, stated that ‘Green Places will provide a new forum for sharing information and raising expectations of what can be achieved’.  As ever, the commitment to biodiversity and its influence on the places featured will depend on the articles submitted and readers keeping an eye on the content!  The journal will be published 10 times a year; for details contact www.landscape.co.uk or 01737 223294.

Interesting Events

•	3rd February 2004 in Lancaster (miles away)	‘Local Action for Grassland in the UK’.
For more details contact: Carrie Rimes, Lowland Grassland Lead Co-ordination Network Officer. Tel: 01248 385680   c.rimes@ccw.gov.uk 

•	Sunday 4th Jan.  15th Annual Lee Valley Regional Park Winter Race.
For more information phone:  01992 702 200 or visit:  www.leevalleypark.org

•	14th & 15th of February.  Boom for Bitterns!  Lee Valley Birdwatching Fair.
For more details contact: info@leevalleypark.org.uk

•	Sun 11th of January.  Winter Bird Walk at the West Reservoir Centre.
For more information contact:  sbain@wildlondon.org.uk	

-  Please note that in the last edition of BioPartner ‘Wildlife For All’ was omitted by mistake from the article- Thames Festival ‘Birdwatch Day’.
Apologies Emma.