Supplementary Memorandum by The Wildlife
Trusts (B10 14 (a))
1. This supplementary evidence provides
additional detail on costings associated with the conservation
of UK Biodiversity. It focuses on three areas of activity: Local
Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs), Wildlife Site systems and Local
Record Centres (LRCs). We believe that these are three areas where
resource requirements are modest, but would make a significant
contribution to the conservation of UK Biodiversity, and should
be prioritised for funding.
LOCAL BIODIVERSITY
ACTION PLANS
2. Local Biodiversity Action Plans have
been recognised as a key mechanism to ensure delivery of the UK
Biodiversity Action Plan. If they are to be an effective tool,
it is essential that local BAPs are developed and delivered across
the whole of the UK. This development and delivery requires resources
both for those specific areas where work is being undertaken,
and for more central co-ordination of activity to ensure BAPs
operate most efficiently.
3. We estimate that the number of local
BAPs needed to achieve coverage of the whole of the UK is 95.
This is a minimum figure for coverage and does not include those
biodiversity initiatives that are developing at a smaller geographical
level (eg at a very local level such as a district). In order
for local BAPs to be developed and their implementation co-ordinated,
each of these local BAPs requires a dedicated project officer.
The costs involved in funding a project officer are estimated
as £40,000 per annum. With 95 local BAPs, this would produce
a figure of approximately £3.8 million. This does not include
contributions from partners to steer the BAP process, nor does
it cover all implementation work itself—this would require
substantially more resources.
4. We also believe that a dedicated local
BAP co-ordinator is an essential requirement for each country
(England, N Ireland, Scotland and Wales). This role is needed
to maintain consistent approaches to local BAPs and prevent duplication
of effort. Four co-ordinators at approximately the same cost as
project officers would bring the total figure for local BAP coverage
to approximately £4 million per annum
WILDLIFE SITE
SYSTEMS
5. Wildlife Site systems provide an effective
mechanism for identifying priority sites within a local context
and ensuring they are afforded appropriate protection and can
be targeted for conservation action. However, existing systems
take significantly different approaches and are at varying stages
of development. The result is that the protection of sites and
support for site owners is considerably different across the country.
Systems need to be developed to common standards to enable other
organisations to use Wildlife Sites more effectively in their
work.
6. A recent survey of Wildlife Site systems
revealed that there are currently 116 different systems operating
in the UK, covering all but nine local authority areas. However,
we believe that this should be rationalised and a number of smaller
systems integrated to provide a more efficient basis for running
systems—this would bring numbers to around 75 systems.
7. Based on existing experience of running
systems we have estimated an annual cost of around £110,000
per system, this would include management of the systems, ongoing
analysis of site assessments, liaison with landowners, provision
of information on sites to partners and routine monitoring of
sites. The total cost for maintaining the Wildlife Sites network
is therefore approximately £8.25 million per annum. This
figure does not include the costs of preparing management plans
for sites or the costs of managing sites. Currently we estimate
that most systems are run with less than half of the required
resource.
LOCAL RECORD
CENTRES OPERATING
AS PART
OF THE
NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY
NETWORK
8. To gain complete coverage of the UK there
needs to be a network of between 60 and 65 LRCs. Currently there
are only 13 LRCs that in any way meet this requirement. Although
there has been significant work recently to develop the network
there needs to be a continued investment in the establishment
of LRCs.
9. We can give an estimate of the annual
running costs for a network of LRCs based on recent experience
in developing three new LRCs in conjunction with experience from
existing LRCs. The annual running costs for an LRC can be estimated
at £70,000.
10. Additionally a UK wide support network
for those running LRCs is needed to ensure standards are maintained,
further guidance developed and the LRC accreditation scheme managed.
This can be achieved through a suite of country based co-ordinators
and would cost approximately £130,000. This gives an annual
total cost for running the network of LRCs of £4.5 million
11. Whilst LRCs are being developed there
is an additional development cost. As the status of LRCs varies
considerably, these additional development costs vary between
£30,000 and £65,000 over a two year period. We therefore
estimate that the network needs an additional investment of around
£2.4 million spread over a number of years (two to five years).
12. It should be noted that this does not
include any costs for data collection—a significant proportion
of this is generated through volunteer effort, however the network
of LRCs provides the mechanisms for co-ordinating and harnessing
this voluntary expertise.
June 2000
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