Memorandum by the Countryside Council
for Wales
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) is the
Government's statutory advisor on sustaining natural beauty, wildlife
and the opportunity for outdoor enjoyment in Wales and its inshore
waters. We are a Welsh Assembly Government sponsored body. CCW
has an all Wales remit operating through three Regions. CCW has
statutory responsibility for the protection of notified sites.
We are also the licensing authority for certain activities affecting
protected species in Wales.
CCW welcomes the inquiry and submits below its
responses to the questions specified by the Committee.
Wildlife crime within Wales is a recognised
problem and although much of Wales is rural it is in the more
urban districts that this type of crime is largely recorded (see
annex 1—extracts from exhibition maps—not published).
WILDLIFE CRIME
DOESN'T
PAY
CCW has put out a message to potential offenders
that these are serious crimes, punishable in some instances with
custodial sentences. CCW will also take cases to prosecution where
necessary (see annex 2).
SECONDED POLICE
OFFICERS IN
CCW
Uniquely in the UK, CCW is the only organisation
to have two full time seconded Police Wildlife Crime Officers
work within our offices. These police officers provide support
and guidance for CCW when dealing with issues affecting protected
sites or species.
WILDLIFE CRIME
AND THE
QUALITY OF
LIFE
Wildlife crime has an impact not only on our
natural heritage, but also on those living in and visiting Wales.
The Welsh Assembly Government therefore sees the environment as
a key driver for peoples quality of life, so safeguarding the
countryside and its wildlife is very important in Wales.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
As well as fulfilling our enforcement role,
CCW supports and promotes projects for social inclusion such as
the Aberdare Country Park Peregrine Watch (see annex 3). Projects
such as this indicate the kind of long term measures needed to
combat the spread of wildlife crime in Wales by giving "ownership"
of our natural surroundings to those who live and work within
them.
LINKS WITH
OTHER CRIME
There are links between wildlife crime and other
criminal activity, such as possession of illegal drugs and burglary.
A selection of incidents from the South Wales Police area is attached
to illustrate this point (see annex 4).
IMPACT OF
DEVOLUTION
Devolution has given CCW a raised profile within
Wales and allows us to move faster with initiatives through our
close work with the Assembly.
RAISING AWARENESS
Since 2001, CCW and a host police force have
held an annual Wildlife and Environmental Crime Conference.
MARINE WILDLIFE
CRIME
In May 2003, CCW and Dyfed Powys Police Marine
Unit launched the Sea Wise Code (see annex 5).
1. What is the scale and impact of wildlife
crime?
1.1 Without the facility to formally record
wildlife crime statistics, we are unable to gauge the true extent
of wildlife crime. This is due partly to the fact that at present
the Home Office has not identified wildlife crime as a notifiable
offence. However within CCW we have several systems in place which
do assist us. These are:
1.1.1 Special Scientific Interest and Enforcement
Questionnaires
CCW has established a system to investigate
offences relating specifically to Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSI). CCW is the statutory body responsible for investigating
offences affecting SSSIs whether carried out by the owners or
occupiers of such sites, or by third parties.
On discovering a possible offence CCW staff
complete a questionnaire specifying the nature of the offence
and provide supporting information to assist the investigation
process. CCW currently refer all such questionnaires to the Police
Wildlife Crime Officers seconded to work with CCW. In utilising
their considerable investigative experience we can ensure all
cases are dealt with effectively and professionally. All cases
are disposed of via a number of mechanisms including, advice,
warnings, official cautions and, in extreme cases prosecution.
CCW currently processes between 30 to 40 questionnaires per annum
and with increased training of staff and use of trained police
officers this is expected to rise. It is important to note that
the above figure represents reported cases. As the designation
coverage of Wales currently stands at over 12% it is therefore
difficult to enforce given the large area of land. Therefore the
true scale of offences is considered to be far greater.
1.1.2 Casework Recording
Regional staff are required to record all enquiries
received regarding incidents or queries where protected species
are affected. Where an offence is suspected, these records are
forwarded to our seconded Police Wildlife Crime Officers for further
investigation. In such instances, CCW staff will provide assistance
and where necessary, witness statements.
1.1.3 Seconded Police Wildlife Crime Officers
CCW holds a unique place within the UK in that
we second two full time Police Wildlife Crime Officers to work
alongside CCW staff. These Officers, from North Wales and South
Wales Police, are based within CCW offices in Bangor and Cardiff
and assist with both site and species enforcement. Both these
Officers record the number of calls they receive relating to wildlife
crime. For the year 2003, the statistics for North Wales and South
Wales were 350 and 292 respectively (see annex 6—not published).
1.4 Without clear statistics it is not easy
to assess the true impact that wildlife crime is having upon protected
sites and species. However it is evident that loss of habitat
due to burning, unlawful development or unsuitable management
will impact upon the distribution and population success of many
species either as a direct result of persecution or through the
damage of an area known to support many species. The South Wales
Peregrine Watch, of which CCW is a partner, provides a clear example
of this. The Watch monitor 36 peregrine nest sites in south Wales.
On average two thirds of these sites fail every year with a proportion
of these failures being directly attributed to persecution. This
failure to raise healthy chicks prevents peregrines in south Wales
reaching their full distribution potential (see annex 7).
1.5 CCW also considers that the subsequent
effects of wildlife crime, such as habitat damage from off road
vehicles on protected sites and illegal trapping or poisoning
can have a detrimental impact on the publics' enjoyment of Wales'
countryside and coast.
1.6 Conclusion
Without data and statistics, CCW is unable to
make any scientific analysis of the affect of wildlife crime on
protected sites and species. Through other means however, we are
able to gauge how widespread this type of crime is throughout
Wales and what particular criminal activities require tackling
as a priority.
2. Is the framework of national and European
law and of international regulation robust enough to deal with
wildlife crime effectively?
2.1 CCW has statutory responsibilities for
protected sites and species under the following legislation:
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
The Conservation (Natural Habitats &c) Regulations
1994
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (licensing)
The Deer Act 1991 (licensing)
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000
2.2 On the whole, CCW considers that for
its purposes, the current legislation is robust enough to support
effective enforcement. The CRoW Act 2000 has improved the situation
with the introduction of enhanced police powers, with the added
offence of "reckless" damage or killing and the potential
for custodial sentences. However, within regard specifically to
SSSI legislation, third party offences are often not detected
at the time of the offence. These offences by their very nature
prove difficult to enforce against. CCW has to prove prior knowledge
by a third party of the SSSI designation and its interest. Offences
such as illegal burning and 4 x 4 vehicle damage are also resource
intensive to manage. A further problem, which CCW encounters,
is that Public Bodies are not treated to the same degree of culpability
as owners and occupiers of SSSI. Public Bodies must follow a consultation
process but the Act (CRoW) can be circumnavigated in places, allowing
damage to occur without penalty. CCW also considers that the reinstatement
of Nature Conservation Orders to restrict unlawful activities
being carried out by any person, could be a great asset. The provision
for the use of Nature Conservation Orders was removed in 2000
from the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
2.3 CCW has found some aspects of the Conservation
Regulations have been drafted with a restrictive approach. For
example:
2.3.1 The Conservation Regulations are the
UK Governments interpretation of the Habitats Directive. However,
there has been poor transposition of the text and spirit of the
Directive into the Regulations. This is particularly relevant
to defences that appear in the Regulations but not in the Directive.
2.3.2 There is imbalance in applying the
legislation at different degrees of threat by setting the appropriate
level of "test" with respect to licensing developments
affecting European protected species. For example, both house
extensions and housing estates are tested against equal parameters.
2.3.3 The recent judgement over the decision
not to issue a licence for the translocation of great crested
newts at Halkyn Mountain, Flintshire (ref: The Honourable Mr Justice
Pitchford. Case No: CO/1872/03) in advance of quarrying, has apparently
overturned the protection provided by the Regulations as interpreted
by CCW.
2.4 Due largely to lack of case law for
any piece of legislation under which CCW has responsibility, it
is often difficult to establish our own guidelines where definitions
of legal terms are required. Confusion has arisen when, as an
organisation, we have attempted to define actions such as "take"
or "disturb" within UK and EU legislation. Unfortunately,
those same provisions are defined very differently by other enforcement
agencies. This inconsistency weakens any legal argument that CCW
or other bodies may wish to take and lessens the validity of the
legislation. Therefore a clear and concise directory of definitions
would strengthen the legislation.
2.5 Conclusion
Generally the legislation is robust enough in
itself to deal with the majority of wildlife crime but lack of
case law, clear terminology and implementation guidelines, as
well as inconsistencies between the Directive and Regulations,
make some aspects of the legislation difficult to interpret and
apply. With regard to site legislation, there is no doubt that
the CRoW Act 2000 has brought a massive increase in the protection
afforded to SSSIs. However there is still considerable weakness
in relation to third parties, and inconsistencies between the
legal terms imposed on owner/occupiers and public bodies. CCW
would like consideration to be given to the reinstatement of Nature
Conservation Orders.
3. Do responsible bodies who deal with this
type of crime have sufficient resources and powers to do so? Do
they treat wildlife crime with proper and true gravity?
3.1 CCW employs 661 staff. Of those, 73
make up our Regional Conservation Teams. These teams are at the
forefront of CCW's responsibilities for protected sites and for
ensuring that protected species are given consideration in local
authority plans etc. CCW also employs species specialists throughout
its Regions and within its Headquarters. A Site Safeguard Team
is also based within Headquarters.
3.2 CCW Headquarters species and site teams,
in addition to terrestrial, freshwater and marine scientists provide
support and guidance for Regional staff on relevant aspects of
legislation and enforcement. In past years, CCW has increased
these Teams to reflect the importance of our enforcement responsibilities.
For example, CCW now employs a Species Protection Team which has
responsibility for producing policy, guidance and training for
staff, for ensuring that CCW plays a vital role in the development
and implementation of species legislation, especially through
its close connections with the police and for the issuing of licenses.
This Team has grown from two part time members of staff four years
ago to three members of staff at the present time.
3.3 CCW considers it is a priority that
staff who deal with protected species and sites are provided with
adequate resources in the form of policy and guidance as well
as targeted training. Enforcement training has been delivered
as part of CCW's training programme. These courses cover subjects
such as evidence gathering techniques and an understanding of
CCW's role within the judicial system. The courses were attended
by 80 staff in 2003. However, encouraging staff and partners to
report offences has created problems in the past but CCW is now
seeing a culture change where staff in particular are reporting
offences knowing that they will not be responsible personally
for undertaking the investigation. Historically CCW staff have
not been trained to investigate offences and saw the enforcement
route as confrontational and time consuming.
3.4 CCW has produced and contributed to
publicity material promoting the awareness of wildlife crime.
We also fund and produce bilingual material for a stand at the
Royal Welsh Show with the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife
Crime (PAW).
3.5 In April 2000, North Wales Police Chief
Constable offered CCW a full time Wildlife Crime Officer on a
secondment basis. This Officer took up post within CCW's Headquarters
office in October that year. CCW and North Wales Police worked
in partnership to resource this post with North Wales Police paying
salary and CCW providing office facilities, vehicle and staff
support. The secondment was considered such a success by CCW in
assisting with the delivery of our functions, that in April 2003,
CCW fully funded the appointment of a second officer from South
Wales Police from our own budget. The second officer is currently
on a three year contract to CCW.
3.6 The powers bestowed on CCW to enforce
the law are largely provided in the form of protected site legislation,
detailed in Schedule 9 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act
2000. These powers are considered by CCW on the whole to be adequate
in meeting our statutory responsibilities, however we would refer
the Committee to Section 2 of this memorandum. Licensing powers
are the responsibility of CCW and again, we consider that these
are largely adequate. However, CCW would wish the Committee to
refer to the comments made in section 2.4 of this memorandum in
respect of definitions and transposition of European legislation.
The powers that CCW does have can be seriously undermined by our
concerns addressed here.
3.7 Conclusion
As the body responsible for the protection of
notified sites, for the issuing of licences and for ensuring the
protection of scheduled species, CCW considers that it does, on
the whole, have sufficient resources and powers to fulfil its
statutory function. CCW is also willing to resource material and
events that highlight the problems of wildlife crime. However,
the approach taken by CCW to wildlife crime and the development
of policy can only be said to have been considered as an important
priority for the organisation in the last four years.
4. Is there sufficient dialogue and co-operation
across Government and amongst various bodies responsible for dealing
with this type of crime?
4.1 CCW considers that dialogue and working
relationships with the police is a considerable asset to our organisation.
Through the close working partnership CCW has with our seconded
Wildlife Crime Officers, we have been able on a number of occasions
to prevent offences from being committed. The presence of a uniformed
police officer based within CCW has had a major impact for staff
by providing an advisory service in house as well giving assistance
and back up on site. In addition, through the establishment of
the secondments, relations between CCW staff and officers throughout
the four Welsh police forces have improved considerably. CCW staff
are now in contact with their local Police Wildlife Crime Officer
and there is better understanding of the roles and functions of
our two organisations. This improvement in liaison and support
has also made us aware of the assistance we can provide for each
other either when enquiries are being undertaken or when specialist
knowledge is required. CCW staff provide witness statements on
a regular basis and have assisted the police as witnesses in court.
The police in turn have used information and data held by CCW
to assist them with enquiries and enforcement action.
4.2 Since 2001, CCW and a host police force
have held an annual Wildlife and Environmental Crime Conference.
The aim of the conference, which has been attended annually by
up to 150 delegates, is to raise awareness of wildlife crime amongst
our partners, to share ideas and experiences in how to tackle
problems and to discuss and agree issues that can be progressed.
As such, an Action Plan as been produced from the last two events
detailing issues raised, what actions can be delivered and by
whom. An example from the 2002 Conference was the request to provide
general guidance to boat users and visitors to Welsh coasts on
how this particular natural heritage and its wildlife were protected.
In May 2003, CCW and Dyfed Powys Police Marine Unit launched the
Sea Wise Code. 20,000 copies have been produced and distributed
around Wales. The Conference is the only one of its kind in the
UK to be open to delegates from all interested parties, both public,
private and voluntary. Such is the success of the conference that
delegates attend not only from Wales but also from Scotland, England
and Ireland, including Police Wildlife Crime Officers from those
countries.
4.3 In September 2003, CCW was invited to
attend a meeting with JNCC and the Police to consider what conservation
issues were most affected by crime and could therefore benefit
from police intervention. A suite of UK wide priorities where
identified and CCW was asked to provide its own priorities. The
Welsh conservation priorities have been identified as:
— Damage to SSSI by illegal burning
— Damage to SSSI caused by off-road
vehicles
— Loss or damage to habitat used by
European protected species through unlawful development
CCW has undertaken the management and production
of guidelines for the police, which will assist them when dealing
with incidents involving any of the above. The guidelines, along
with maps and other information, are due to be distributed to
the police in August 2004. CCW will also be providing training
for its own staff and Police Wildlife Crime Officers on how and
when to use the guidelines and to reiterate the importance of
maintaining links between local CCW and police officers. The Welsh
Conservation Objectives initiative is due to be launched at the
2004 Wildlife and Environmental Crime Conference by Carwyn Jones
AM, Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside.
4.4 CCW supports the objectives of the Partnership
for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW), which is a body established
by DEFRA to assist and unite those organisations, both voluntary
and statutory, with a wildlife enforcement remit. CCW has funded
the bilingual production of a series of PAW leaflets and has provided
input at PAW events.
4.5 CCW has regular liaison meetings with
our sister organisations in England and Scotland and although
communication is good, the three bodies are inconsistent in their
approach to the issue of wildlife crime. This can not only undermine
the strength of legislation when we have different interpretations
of definitions etc, and thus apply the same legislation differently,
but it also causes confusion among those members of the public
and professionals who work cross border and therefore seek advice
from two or more of the organisations.
4.6 CCW has regular liaison meetings with
relevant staff at the Welsh Assembly Government.
4.7 CCW recognises that there is scope for
better communication between ourselves and the enforcement teams
of bodies such as the Environment Agency and local authorities.
This is an internal issue for CCW to address. However, our lines
of communication with voluntary organisations such as the RSPB
and the National Federation of Badger Groups are generally good.
CCW is happy to share and exchange information, where permitted,
that can assist the agenda of those organisations. CCW is also
very appreciative of the support that such organisations provide
for us when undertaking our own enquiries.
4.8 Conclusion
CCW feels very privileged to hold the position
that it does within the wildlife enforcement agencies of Wales
and indeed further afield. Through the unique secondments with
the police, we find that we are able to provide, and be provided
with, much improved dialogue which can only assist in reducing
wildlife crime. CCW does acknowledge that there remains room for
improvement, some of which is an item for CCW to pursue internally.
However, we feel that assistance and guidance from central Government
would improve consistency between the statutory conservation agencies
and strengthen the implementation of the current legislation.
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