Archived decisions

Contact: David Pape, ext 6739 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 A Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan has been prepared to improve the County Council's performance in conserving the natural environment and to broaden the use of nature in delivering services such as education and social welfare.

1.2 Conserving Nature for the Community: Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan 2005-2008 (attached to this report) is central to delivering the County Council's Sustainable Development programme. The preparation of the Plan has involved extensive consultation with departments and achieved considerable enthusiasm and commitment to the comprehensive range of actions set out in the Plan.

1.3 The Plan builds on a strong foundation of biodiversity work within the County Council, but will ensure key improvements, developments and cross-service delivery.

1.4 This report recommends that the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan be approved by Cabinet for adoption by relevant departments for implementation.

2. Background

2.1 Biodiversity is key to quality of life in Hampshire. A healthy environment, rich in wildlife, is central to economic prosperity and the attractiveness of the county as a place to visit, live and work.

2.2 Hampshire is exceptionally rich in wildlife. The county embraces a remarkably varied landscape, a diversity of habitats unparalleled in the South East and the greatest diversity of species of any county in England. In past decades much of Hampshire's biodiversity has been lost through development and changes to land management practices. It is important to ensure future development is sustainable, that land is managed to maintain and enhance biodiversity and that nature is accessible to everyone.

2.3 The conservation of biodiversity is also a utilitarian need. In an increasingly sophisticated world, the richer the biodiversity, the greater the breadth of choice for biotechnology and economic development opportunities.

2.4 Nature is central to environmental education and lifelong learning about the surrounding world, fundamental to social welfare, heritage, culture and sense of place, and provides relaxation and inspiration. Providing access to nature is important for delivering first-class services to the community.

2.5 The Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan has three main aims, to:

(i) improve the County Council's performance in conserving and enhancing Hampshire's biodiversity;

(ii) broaden the use of biodiversity in delivering services such as education and social welfare; and

(iii) raise public and staff awareness of biodiversity.

2.6 The context of the Plan is set by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. This recommends that local authorities take a lead in developing action for biodiversity. The Biodiversity Action Plan for Hampshire, prepared by the Hampshire Biodiversity Partnership and adopted across the public, private and voluntary sectors, challenges individual local authorities to establish corporate approaches to biodiversity.

2.7 The range of action set out in the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan is directly linked to the objectives of the Biodiversity Action Plan for Hampshire, the England Biodiversity Strategy and European Commission objectives set out in the Malahide (Biodiversity) and Aalborg (Sustainable Development) commitments.

2.8 There are increasing expectations on local government to deliver programmes for conserving biodiversity. National indicators for monitoring local authority performance are being developed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and are expected to be introduced into Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

2.9 The Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan addresses new legislation and evolving responsibilities for local authorities including those established under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, the Rural Strategy and the draft Planning Policy Statement on Biodiversity from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

3. Corporate Context

3.1 The preparation of the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan is a principle component of the Corporate Sustainable Development Action Plan. Biodiversity is one of the main themes in the County Council's Sustainable Development Strategy, and all departments have been asked to consider biodiversity in the preparation of individual departmental action plans for sustainable development. The Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan will greatly assist this process.

4. The Plan

4.1 The Action Plan consists of three parts:

Part 1 of the Plan outlines the relationship between biodiversity and achieving quality of life, the County Council's statutory obligations, the rapidly developing role of local authorities in conserving biodiversity, and the corporate context.

Part 2 summarises the County Council's considerable activity in support of biodiversity conservation and identifies areas for strengthening and building on current work under the following 14 themes:

Legislation - Policy and Programmes

Forward Planning

Development

Transportation and Highway Management

Land Management

Coast

County Council Landholdings

County Council Buildings and Grounds

Data and Information

Associated Environmental Initiatives

Education

Social Care

Economic Development

Awareness, Involvement and Quality of Life

Part 3 sets out proposed actions for the period 2005 to 2008 under the 14 themes (page 54 onwards). A set of headline indicators and targets has also been developed for key areas of activity (page 52).

5. The Process

5.1 The Plan has been prepared through comprehensive discussions with all departments and all individual actions have been agreed by the relevant departments.

5.2 The Action Plan is not resource intensive. It concentrates on the development of existing programmes and improving methods of working, rather than initiatives requiring additional resources. Individual actions will be monitored and data will be collected against the headline targets and indicators.

5.3 A cross-departmental group will be established to promote implementation of the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan and monitor progress. This group will report to the Corporate Sustainable Development Group.

5.4 Hampshire County Council enjoys a national reputation for its work in conserving biodiversity. The Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan provides for the first time a complete overview of the County Council's work relating to this topic and will help celebrate its success, while improving and strengthening cross-service delivery.

Recommendations

1. That the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan be approved by Cabinet for adoption by relevant departments for implementation.

2. That progress on implementing the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan be monitored and reported as part of annual reporting on the County Council's performance in sustainable development.

135Rpt/DP