Natural England

Minutes of the 25th Meeting of the Countryside Agency

Present: Ewen Cameron, Chairman

Kate Ashbrook 

Janet Bradbury (items 5, 8 - 12)

Martin Doughty

Dr Victoria Edwards

Peter Fane

Luna Frank-Riley (items 5, 7 - 12) 

Tony Hams 

Rt Rev Graham James 

Prof Philip Lowe (items 1-11)

Catherine Mack

Sue Stapely

In attendance: Richard Wakeford, Chief Executive

Margaret Clark, Director

David Coleman, Director

Sarah Sleet, Director

Jon Tomlinson, Director

Isobel Coy, Head of Media & Parliamentary Affairs

Wendy Thompson, Head of Management Support Group

CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION

The Chairman welcomed members of the public and Countryside Agency staff as observers to the meeting. 

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies had been received from Pam Warhurst and Frances Rowe.

2. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 15 NOVEMBER 2001

The minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3. MATTERS ARISING

AP01/44 LOCAL GOVERNANCE

The Board had held a seminar the previous evening to follow up the November discussion on regional and local governance - and in particular the role of the emerging local strategic partnerships.

AP00/47 CORPORATE PLAN PROGRESS - HALF YEAR REPORT

The Executive had agreed that an additional £500,000 should be committed to the fund for rural recovery, rather than £50,000 stated in the matters arising note - which was a typing error.

4. FUTURE MANAGEMENT OF NATIONAL TRAILS (AP01/49)

(In attendance, Bob Roberts and Jill Hobbs)

Introducing the paper, Bob Roberts outlined the next steps needed to establish the National Trails Trust - agreed in principle earlier by the Board. Informal discussions with some of the local authorities with National Trails crossing their areas, had revealed a desire to learn more about the Countryside Agency's plans. If the Board approved the proposals in the paper, further discussions with all those involved would take place. The Board were invited to agree that the Agency should proceed to the next stage of establishing a Trust.

In discussion the following points were made:

a. The Board had agreed to establish the Trust earlier in May 2001 and now needed to consider the proposed objectives and structure. It had already been agreed that a Trust would be a way of improving the investment made into improving National Trails and that it would be helpful to have an organisation which could focus its attention on the Trails, capitalising on the brand name both nationally and internationally. The Agency would need to retain a strategic role. 

b. The Agency would need to invest in the Trust and specifically in fundraising in order to meet the proposed objectives. Whilst it was right that the Charity Commission should ensure that the Trust was independent, the Agency needed to be confident that its investment and interests were secure, since the Trust would, in effect, be in a monopoly position. Once a Trust was established as an independent body, the Agency would not have the right or power to close it down if it believed that it was no longer serving a useful purpose. However, the Agency would retain some control over the Trust with the resources it contributed, which could be withdrawn by the Agency if, at a future date, it decided that a Trust was no longer needed. Legal advice would be sought on this.

c. The Board endorsed the proposal to seek opportunities for new regional trails. This was accepted as a longer-term objective but the immediate priority should be to get the National Trails in good order, working with regional bodies as well as local authorities. 

d. Funds should be sought from regional development agencies, National Park Authorities and local authorities. In both cases, the Trust should be looking for new money as investments in superior tourism infrastructure rather than drawing from highway authority rights of way budgets.

e. The Agency had invited Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales to participate in the setting up of a GB-wide Trust.

Summing up the discussion, the Chairman said that the Agency had:

• agreed the proposed objectives and structure of a National Trails Trust and that officers should begin a national consultation, taking account of the points raised in discussion;
• agreed that the Agency should provide long-term funding to promote, develop and enhance National Trails;
• agreed to seek sponsorship and an endowment to provide a secure income for the Trust.  

NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK: DESIGNATION ORDER AND ADVICE ON SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS (AP01/50)

(In attendance Marian Spain)

The Chairman welcomed those observing the meeting by video link to the New Forest District Council. 

Introducing the paper, Marian Spain reported that the paper presented to the Board represented the last in a series of papers on the designation of the New Forest as a National Park. The decision on whether or not to proceed with the designation order was now due. In earlier discussions the Countryside Agency Board had recognised the special characteristics of the area would require special administrative arrangements. Ministers were expecting the Agency to provide advice to them on the arrangements required and the Board was invited to agree the advice presented in the paper. In particular, the Board needed to consider whether adequate administrative arrangements could be put in place without the need for legislation. The Board also needed to decide whether it agreed that the proposed boundary met the statutory criteria for the designation of a National Park. They were advised of a typing error on page 2, paragraph 5 of the paper where, under the first bullet point, the word 'include' should be replaced with 'exclude' therefore reading "Section 13, exclude farmland around Burton". 

In discussion the following points were made:

a. The people who lived and worked in the New Forest had a strong affinity to the area and there was a strong sense of ownership linked to responsibility for the area. There was no reason for that commitment, shown in the inputs made to the designation process, to be lost. The proof of success would be in how the New Forest Park Authority would use its new powers as a National Park to the advantage of the area.

National Park boundary

c. Officers were proposing some changes to the boundary were proposed where new evidence had been put forward. No change was proposed in the previously controversial areas of Ringwood, Dibden Bay and Frost Lane. The changes also did not include removing the area in Dorset because despite the attraction of fewer local authorities in the boundary that would not make sense in terms of meeting the statutory criteria. 

d. Most of the Board members had visited the area to look in particular at the areas of contention and several had visited the area on a number of occasions. 

The Board, having looked at the summary of the evidence presented in Annex 1 of the report, was now content that the boundary proposed met the statutory criteria and was both practical and robust. 

Designation of AONB

e. The Board also agreed that the South Hampshire Coast AONB should be de-designated from the date the National Park came into existence. No objections had been received to the notice on deposit.

National Park administration

f. Many organisations and individuals had provided ideas and comment on the administration of the New Forest as a National Park. This had added to the quality of the analysis which was now presented to the Board. The Countryside Agency designation team had shown thoroughness and professionalism in the way they had conducted the consultation on proposed special arrangements. There were important issues to address to make sure that the administrative process put in place was the most appropriate for the New Forest and the advice to the Secretary of State had to be robust, making clear that special arrangements were essential.

g. The administration for the New Forest would need to reflect the special characteristics, special values and special needs of the area. However, the Board had not considered necessary to have new legislation to set up a National Park Authority as the proposals in the paper would address the special needs properly.. Legislation might be needed to deal with certain things in the New Forest, but they were unrelated to the establishment of a National Park Authority and should be dealt with separately. 

Planning

h. The planning arrangements proposed were the right pragmatic solution for the New Forest. The Planning Green paper might have an impact, but it was too soon to say what.

i. Joint minerals and waste plans were a particular concern. It would be important for the New Forest National Park Authority to control sand and gravel extraction. Under the proposed arrangements the National Park Authority would retain overall responsibility and its views could predominate if there was disagreement. 

Membership

j. The Board though it was right that there should be no guarantee that particular groups or bodies should have representation on the authority. The special measures proposed for election of members were right. Membership would need to be balanced to reflect both national and local interest and should not exclude those from urban areas.

Next steps

k. It was not possible to make the designation order conditional on the Agency's advice on administration on the National Park Authority, however the Agency would, however, make clear to Ministers that the measures proposed were essential to the effective working of a New Forest National Park Authority. The Chairman would use meetings with Ministers in the new year to stress the importance of getting the right administrative arrangements in place, as well as writing formally with the Agency's advice. 

Summing up the discussion, the Chairman said that the Agency had unanimously agreed:

• the boundary for the New Forest National Park Authority;
• that the South Hampshire Coast AONB should be de-designated, in due course;
• with the special arrangements proposed for planning and membership;
• that the New Forest designation order should be signed by the Chairman and Chief Executive in January and placed on deposit for 28 days. The order would then be submitted to the Secretary of State.  

6. BUSINESS RISK MANAGEMENT (AP01/51)

(In attendance, Mike Doughty)

Introducing the paper, Mike Doughty informed the Board that the 2002 Risk Management Action Plan had been prepared to address the strategic level of risk management following a seminar including Board members. The Agency needed to demonstrate that it had a process to ensure it acted responsibly in relation to corporate governance. The plan, and the list of risks identified, had been drawn up following a seminar with Board members in September 2001. 

In discussion the following points were made:

a. At the September seminar Board members had identified potential risks and had prioritised them as shown in Annex 1 of the paper. Since then risks in the delivery and monitoring of services to meet Customer Charter standards had also been revealed. The process for checking quality control needed to be improved.

b. Additional areas of risk which the Board asked the Executive to take into account in the action plan were:

• the risk of not doing adequate evaluation and monitoring;
• financial incompetence - mistakes and lapses of judgment rather than fraud;
• equal opportunities and sexual harassment - where a robust process needed to be in place to deal with any cases if challenged;
• illness or absence of the Chairman or Chief Executive - where a strategy should be in place;
• premises disaster - where something prevents the Agency from using its premises to do business;
• accusation of political bias - a process for dealing with this needed to be in place.  

Summing up the discussion, the Chairman said that the Agency had:

• identified a number of additional areas of risk which the Executive should take away to consider. The Action Plan would need to be amended in the light of the points raised;
• agreed that strategic risks should be considered on an annual basis and that a risk management action plan should be prepared for each calendar year following a Board seminar in the summer.  

7. RURAL SERVICES STANDARD: FIRST ANNUAL REPORT (AP01/53)

(In attendance, Helen Thomson)

Helen Thomson said that the first annual report on rural service standards introduced in the Rural White Paper was intended to provide the baseline for future work on developing and refining the indicators.

The following points were made in discussion:

a) the report was welcome and seen as significant in enabling local people to know what standard of public service delivery they could expect. The report would become a significant tool in future years;

b) work was proposed to develop a standard on rural childcare but there were other issues such as after school care, care for elderly and disabled people and access to faith communities. Access to ICT was also an important issue in rural areas and the Agency should monitor wider issues than the roll-out of UK Online, such as broadband access and community provision:

c) police force best practice targets had been identified as an area for further work because there was currently little information available to the public on target response times. This information should be relatively easily accessible;

Summing up, the Chairman said the rural service standards focused on access to specific public services. There would be opportunities in the Agency's broader work to investigate the wider issues identified by the Board. The Chairman said the Board welcomed the report and endorsed the areas proposed for further work in 2002/03.

8. RURAL SOCIAL EXCLUSION (AP01/54)

(In attendance, Helen Thomson)

Introducing the paper, Helen Thomson said that the table in Annex 2 summarised the work done on social exclusion in the Rural Services team since April 1999. This included a number of local and national demonstration projects, research, conferences and an evaluation framework. The paper invited the Board was invited to approve the next phase of the work and to advise on membership of the Rural Social Advisory Group.

In discussion the following points were made:

a) the team were congratulated on the broad spectrum of the social exclusion work they had begun. The 'scattergun' approach had been necessary for this initial phase of work and had allowed the Agency to gather a vast array of material. The next phase needed to build on this and to draw out the important lessons. In doing so, it would be important not to get lost in the minutia and to draw strategic level conclusions;

b) the second phase of the work should be about disseminating practical information. The solutions which had been tested would not always be right for other areas to adopt directly and it was not the intention to scale up all the demonstration projects in to national programmes. The aim should be to learn lessons, demonstrate solutions and influence delivery mechanisms. The programme evaluation involved both self -assessment and some independent monitoring. All of this would be collated and the main messages distilled as part of the dissemination process.

c) the three key themes identified for future work were right. Social and community enterprises could be a way into the formal economy or simply to provide local services in an appropriate way. The focus on young people was important because if their problems were tackled early it could avoid longer term problems and help to retain young people within rural communities. More work was needed on resource allocation and targeting in order to engage the people in need in the debate.

d) it would be important to disseminate the information learnt effectively in ways that would engage the audience the Agency wanted to influence. The conference, planned for Autumn 2002, would be a useful opportunity to report the main messages.

e) the Agency would work with others like the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureau and welfare rights networks. They already had a lot of experience and information on social exclusion which the Agency could draw on and many aspects of social exclusion were common to people in both rural and urban areas;

f) the Neighborhood Renewal scheme was based on ward level figures which had an urban bias. This had replaced the Single Regeneration Budget which was not referred to in the paper. The change needed to be looked at.

Summing up the discussion the Chairman said that the Agency had agreed:

• that effective dissemination of the work done so far should aim to influence government policy and delivery mechanisms  

• that the focus of the next phase should be on three themes: social and community enterprise, young people and resource allocation and targeting; effective dissemination of the lessons learnt and influencing government policy and practice.  

• the broad membership of the Rural Social Exclusion Advisory Group  

• that social exclusion should be the focus for a themed visit in 2002/03.  

9. SUPPORT FOR THE RURAL VOLUNTARY SECTOR (AP01/55)

(In attendance, Helen Thomson)

Introducing the paper , Helen Thomson said that the paper demonstrated the breadth of the Agency's involvement in issues across the sector. Foot and mouth disease had demonstrated both the strength and fragility of the voluntary sector in rural areas when faced with loss of income and problems of local delivery. The Agency had provided evidence to the Rural Task Force on the impact of FMD on the sector. A spending review bid was being put forward for funds to help build the capacity of the voluntary sector in rural areas partly in response to FMD.

In discussion the following points were made:

a) while foot and mouth disease had demonstrated the fragility of the rural voluntary sector it had also demonstrated how dynamic and vibrant the sector was at a local level. The Church often took the lead . Supporting community leaders for this type of grassroots work was identified in the paper as a priority if resources could be identified;

b) community level grants needed to be administered in a flexible way and available over a period of time. Short term schemes did not allow time for people to work up their ideas properly and by the time they do, the rules may have changed. Many worthy projects are not progressing because the volunteers are spending too much time chasing funds and drowning in form filling. The Agency should look for ways of funding the mechanisms which help the schemes to deliver.

Summing up the Chairman said that the Agency had agreed

• that it was important to bid for additional funds to strengthen the capacity of the voluntary sector in rural areas  

• to continue to place emphasis on influencing the national policy framework and outcomes of current government initiatives. 

ITEMS FOR INFORMATION

10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next Countryside Agency Board meeting would be on Thursday 14 February 2002.

ITEMS IN CONFIDENCE

11.  COUNTRYSIDE AGENCY FUNDING FOR RURAL COMMUNITY (AP01/56)

(In attendance, Helen Thomson)

Introducing the paper, Helen Thomson reminded the Board that they had already agreed in principle to allocate additional funds to Rural Community Councils, but had not identified where the costs would fall in the Agency. The paper asked the Board to agree to the principle of a new formula to distribute grants to RCCs and a new Service Level Agreement (SLA). The paper also recommended that the additional money should be transferred from the Vital Villages programme. Without this new money the changes to the funding formula would not be practicable. Annex 2 which presented the results of applying the recommended new formula was tabled at the meeting.

[A revised Annex 2 was subsequently distributed to Board members.]

In discussion the following points were made:

a) grants to RCCs had not increased since 1994/95 and the proposed increase was less than the rate of inflation since that time. RCCs were critical to the delivery of many Agency initiatives. A decision on future funding was urgent so that RCCs could complete their budgets and work programmes for the coming year;

b) the current funding formula was outdated and unsound. The new formula would offer a simple and transparent method of allocating funds. It was based on the number of settlements under 3,000 population, the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000 and a sparsity factor. The RCCs would also receive a core grant of £25,000 to recognise some basis core costs. The new SLA would require the RCC to deliver a number of common activities and some local priorities agreed with the Agency regional office;

c) a significant number of options for recasting the funding formula had been investigated The recommended approach would result in some RCCs gaining additional grant and some loosing. Of the five options presented in Annex 2, the Board favoured option 4. Despite some concerns over the size of some of the changes overall the formula was correct and defensible and the consequences were something that would need to be faced; 

d) the guarantee that no RCC would lose more than 5% over the current year's grant in the first year would be welcome but the Board was also keen to see the changes implemented as quickly as possible. Phasing increases and losses would mean the total sum could be contained within the available budget. It was not possible to offer a commitment to fund RCCs beyond the three years of the SLA as this is the duration of the Agency's own corporate plan period. However, RCCs had no reason to assume that the relationship would not continue beyond that period;

e) the losses listed for some RCCs seemed to be particularly high in areas where there were still real issues to address. Officers should look carefully at the RCCs where the losses appeared particularly high and look favourably at phasing;

f) if DEFRA approved the proposed changes to the draft corporate plan all RCCs would be informed of the new grant formula and details of the implications for them as quickly as possible. They would be provided with a full list of all the grants.

In summing up, the Chairman said the Agency had agreed:

• that £400,000 should be transferred from the Vital Villages programme to support RCCs;  

• that Option 4 of the proposed changes to the funding formula should be adopted;  

• that no RCC should experience a loss of more than 5% over the current grant in 2002/03 but that the full changes should be implemented by the end of 2003/04;  

• that the formula should be reviewed again in three years;  

• the revised Service Level Agreement presented in the paper.  

12.  CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY (AP01/52)

(In attendance, Pam Gilder)

Introducing the paper, Pam Gilder said that the paper had been prepared jointly between the Public Affairs and Media and Parliamentary teams. Board member views, including those contributed by the Chairman and Deputy Chair at monthly Strategy meetings, as well as those of Sue Stapely as Lead Board member had been woven in to the paper. The paper addressed both communication processes and priority external messages. It was important to consider a new communications strategy now because of the need to differentiate the Agency's message from those of other organisations involved in rural matters. It was also necessary to consider how to maintain public interest in rural issues in the face of wider world events. The Agency's remit was wide, so it would need to focus on a few clear messages rather than on a range of diffuse stories. The paper proposed a rolling programme of priority messages to focus internal effort. 

In discussion the following points were made:

a. The achievements currently being made were outstanding. The number of press cuttings generated were high for the size of the organisation and the press team. Many staff had good communication skills and were adept at getting Board members involved where necessary. It was important that all staff involved in presenting the Agency to the public were sufficiently trained. It was also important to measure and evaluate success. Software was available which could undertake this monitoring and would help to target the media more effectively.

b. Once the communications strategy was adopted it would be important to stick to it. However, although the strategy would set out the priorities, there would be flexibility within the organisation to deal with other important public interest issues such as access to the countryside, designation of the South Downs National Park and planning.

c. The future of food and farming was an important priority which the Agency should continue to focus attention on into the New Year. The Agency needed to be clear about who the audiences for the main messages were. It should be wary about focusing too much on CAP reform as much could be done within the existing regulations. The words needed to be chosen carefully. The text in the main message presented in Annex 2 should be changed to remove the reference to "stop paying public money for public goods that nobody wants". The reference to "farming in its new context" should also be considered carefully. 

d. In referring to the link between rural and urban the Agency must remember the link works both ways - especially for transport. 

e. It was important to have consistent messages. The Agency had been telling the public that the countryside was open and they were welcome to use it all summer, and then it announced that 25% of rights of way were unusable. The stories did not hang together. 

f. Rural economies were intended to be a priority topic between May and November 2002 and yet there was a lot to do before the Agency was ready to go public. However, if the Agency did not gear itself up to say something on rural economies by next summer/autumn the opportunity would have been missed. The Agency must be prepared and ready to present its ideas on parts of the rural economy other than farming. Work had been commissioned to draw together the lessons from existing research. It would be important for the Agency to be creative and distinctive in whatever it said.

g. Press releases should be replaced by targeted e-mail briefs to journalists. Staff needed to understand that they would not get press coverage for all areas of work, but programme specific stories would need to continue in addition to the priority areas identified in the communications strategy. The Agency would also need to be reactive to the political agenda. 

h. The communications strategy would influence the external funding programme and would help the Agency to be more tactical in bidding for external funds.

Summing up  the discussion the Chairman said that the Agency had agreed:

• the new approach to communications work and the corporate objectives for the next 12 months;
• the key messages for the Chairman, Deputy Chair and Chief Executive to focus on at the national level, and Regional Directors and Board members at the regional level.