The Partnership approach & assessing the benefits of catchment management. 12th & 13th September 2016 at the Rougemont Hotel, Exeter. Following the decision to leave the EU the need to come together to tackle the complex environmental problems we face such as diffuse pollution and habitat fragmentation has never been greater. This conference sets out the benefits and drawbacks of partnership working and the effectiveness of dealing with problems at a catchment scale.

1. Chaired by Arlin Rickard

2. #RTConf16
Deputy Director for Water Quality
Defra

3. #RTConf16
Chair of Natural Devon
Devon Local Nature Partnership

4. The LNP approach
Sue Goodfellow
Chair, Natural Devon
Rivers Trust Autumn Conference
12th September 2016

5. • Partnerships of a broad range of
local organisations, businesses
and people who aim to bring
about improvements in their local
natural environment
• Set up in the 2011 Natural
Environment White Paper
• Expected to work alongside Local
Enterprise Partnerships and
Health and Wellbeing Boards
• Natural Devon set up in 2012
What are Local Nature Partnerships?

6. Our quality of life is generally high. However Devon faces a number of
challenges:
• Population growth
• Economy (low wages / seasonal employment)
• Climate change
• Continued impacts on our wildlife and habitats
• A complex world of organisations, sectors, funding, priorities…….
Why is Natural Devon needed?

7. Complexity
Exeter University
Schools
Community
Council of Devon
South West
Water
Developers
Active Devon
Farmers
Natural
England
Devon
Wildlife
Trust
RSPB
AONBs
National
Trust
GPs Public
Health
Local
Authorities
Forestry
CommissionEnvironment
Agency
Marine
Management
Organisation
West Country Rivers
Trust
Businesses
Forestry
sector
Fishermen
Plymouth University
Inshore Fisheries and
Conservation Authority
Gov deps
FWAG SW

8. To maximise collaboration
between all relevant organisations,
partnerships and individuals in
order to:
ensure that a healthy natural
environment underpins a high
quality of life across (..Devon)
with a strong green economy
and healthy communities
Our purposes

9. Three aims and seven priorities have been agreed following
wide consultation
Aims:
1. To protect and improve Devon’s natural environment
2. To grow Devon’s green economy
3. To reconnect Devon’s people with nature
Aims of Natural Devon: our prospectus

10. Seven Themes
‘Naturally Healthy’ ‘Green Connections’ ‘Outdoor Learning’
‘Farming with Nature’ ‘Wood for Good’ ‘Resilient wetlands’
‘Sustainable Seas’

11. • Board – Represents the wide range
of sectors, provides leadership
(independent Chair)
• Executive Group - Supports the
Board (15 officers plus secretariat)
• Forum - open to anyone with an
interest in securing the benefits of
a healthy natural environment
(currently 500 members)
• Coordinator - Sarah Jennings,
Devon County Council
Natural Devon structure

12. LNPs are umbrella partnerships which work to:
• Improve communication and awareness
• Forge links
• Provide a common evidence base
• Champion priorities
• Speak with one voice and influence decisions
• Help to unlock resources
Adding value…

13. Influencing decisions…
• LEP’s strategies and structures
• Countryside Stewardship grant criteria
• Funding bids
• Bringing sectors together to share ideas and actions
• Local input to national initiatives e.g. Defra’s 25 yr.
environment plan, National Growth Board, Terrestrial
Biodiversity Group
How LNPs can make a difference

14. Providing the right evidence…
• Nature Maps
• ‘Reconnecting people with Nature’
• ‘Green economy scoping report’
• ‘State of Devon’s Nature’
• ‘State of Devon’s environment’
• ‘Economic benefits of the environment’
• ‘Improving Engagement with our Natural Environment:
Behaviour Change Scoping Report’

15. Forging links / combining funds…
• Health and environment
• Outdoor education - schools projects, educators conference,
networking
• Sustainable Seas – workshops/action plan
• Forestry, energy and environment sectors - wood fuel project
• Economy and environment - strong links with LEP
• Green infrastructure – multiple benefit approach
.

16. Improving communication…
• Websites as information hubs – www.naturaldevon.org.uk
• Networking - Conferences, lectures, newsletters
• Cross-sector working groups
• Partnership working e.g. with LEPs/ESIF, educators,
communities, NGOs
.

17. .
Partnership activities….
• Strategic policy input
• Farming and environment
workshops
• Ash dieback conference
• Naturally Healthy Month May
• Pollinator Month July
• Collating input to devolution
debate
• Priority pipeline of cross-sector
projects for funding to LEP/ESIF

18. Getting out into the natural world is good fun and great for
our health!
77 varied events
.
Naturally Healthy Month 2016

19. .
Actions for Pollinators..
• Plant bee-friendly
flowers to provide nectar and pollen.
• Create and protect meadows and
other areas rich in wild flowers.
• Don’t be too tidy. Leave areas to
grow wild and build a ‘bug hotel’ in
your garden.
• Think carefully about whether to
use pesticides. Only use them
if absolutely necessary.
• Join up and learn more!
Pollinator Month - July
over 60 events

20. Catchment management issues..
…include
• pollution of water courses, bathing waters and
shell fisheries
• barriers to fish movement
• serious flooding events

21. ‘Devon’s wetlands and watercourses provide resilience to
flooding and drought, healthy fisheries and wildlife habitats,
fantastic recreational opportunities and a clean water
supply’
Natural Devon’s Vision for Resilient Wetlands

22. .
What Natural Devon will do..
• Encourage joined-up, catchment approaches to
management of the water environment in order to
achieve multiple benefits
• Champion continued and innovative investment in
the water environment, building on the Upstream
Thinking approach

23. .
Shared objectives
What success looks like…
• Productive freshwater fisheries and shell fisheries
• Human communities protected from flooding
• An increase in the area and quality of wetlands for
wildlife
• Better quality wetlands, rivers and bathing waters

24. A partnership approach to catchment
management – integrating landscapes
and people…
.
Joining it up….how can Natural Devon help?
Sharing information?
Funding bids?
Support for agri-
environment?

25. .
Finding out more..
www.naturaldevon.org.uk
@Devon_LNP

26. #RTConf16
Chair of the environment sub-group
South West Flood and Coastal Committee

27. South West Regional Flood & Coastal Committee
Environment Sub Group - Partnership Project Approach
Adam Slater

28. My experience to date

29. Report Findings
• Catalyst role – what’s missing
• Environmental scrutiny of capital applications at
SWRFCC
• Annual high level review of 6 year Government
departmental and key investment programmes –
looking for integration opportunities
• Engagement in the new 25 year catchment plans
• Need to improve wider understanding of funding
opportunities.
• Targeted catchment specific activity in key
catchments
• Catchment specific workshops

30. Lessons learnt - work in progress
• Real opportunities to improve environmental quality, flood resilience
& bathing water quality through a more integrated approach
• Significant opportunities for improvements to benefit SWW over and
above their financial commitment to a catchment project
• Key catchments need to be worked up into programmes of work
• Key engagement in the 25 year Catchment Plans – Letwin Review
• Ongoing stimulus needed to embed this activity / culture
• Wider engagement & commitment of key players is necessary
• Need for better community engagement – scheme knowledge
• Catchment prioritisation – demonstrate need
• Natural processes integral to safeguarding homes within Devon and
Cornwall

32. #RTConf16
Deputy Director of Operations, Devon Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
Environment Agency

33. Improving River Ecology
through partnership, evidence & data sharing
Alan Burrows, Deputy Director

35. Catchments

36. Government Policy

37. Partnerships
Be curious. Create networks. Build relations
Seek partnership. Share ideas and data.
Tell stories
Alan Burrows, Deputy Director

38. Alan Burrows, Deputy Director

39. Home page

40. Search results
Alan Burrows, Deputy Director

41. Search results –
toggling catchments
on and off
1. Click the drop down arrow
on the map filter control
2. Use the check boxes to
toggle the different catchment
layers on and off
**Useful on the search results
and RDB pages**
Alan Burrows, Deputy Director

42. #RTConf16
Coordinator
Devon Maritime Forum

43. Catchment Management:
A Marine and Coastal Perspective
Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Dr. Steven Guilbert – Devon Maritime Forum

44. 1. Brief introduction to the Devon Maritime Forum
2. The value and necessity of integrated source-to-
sea management and partnership working
3. Challenges and Opportunities for cross-
boundary, partnership working
Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter

45. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
• Approx 50 coastal
partnerships nationwide
• 800 individual members
representing 250
organisations
• Strategic partnership for
all marine and coastal
stakeholders
• Vision: to provide an
inclusive, integrated and
balanced forum

46. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
• Simple notion…but
challenging and critical
task…bringing people
together!
• DMF uniquely placed at
the centre of a large
marine and coastal
network
• Our key role ‘the neutral
and informed facilitator’
What We Do

47. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Core Services
a.) Facilitating Engagement
• Providing a single, central point of contact
• Providing a platform for cross-sectoral dialogue and discussion
• Facilitating consensus building and conflict resolution
• Providing channels for local ↔ regional ↔ national engagement
• Offering unique networking opportunities
b.) Representation
• Canvasing and collating membership opinion/comment,
experiences/knowledge
• Summarising and documenting viewpoints and issues
• Promulgating and presenting your views at regional and national levels
• Informing and shaping debates, decision-making and policy development
• Representing and championing the views of the Forum to the wider public
c.) Information and Communication
• Horizon scanning to identify new policies and future issues of relevance to
Forum members
• Summarising, translating, and briefing members on current legislation and
policies
• Providing strategic overviews of the impacts and application of new
legislation
• Updating members on the latest news and issues across the maritime
sector
• Providing a central information service managing and responding to
requests from all sectors
• Project development,
management and delivery (e.g.
The ERDF funded VALMER project)
• Workshop/seminar organisation
and facilitation services (e.g.
MMO South Marine Plan
stakeholder engagement
workshops)
• Public and community
engagement events organisation
• Communication strategy
development
Consultancy Services

48. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Current Key Issues

49. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Integrated Source-to-Sea Management
E. Maltby, 2009

50. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Marine Strategy Framework Directive
• More or less commensurate with WFD
• Applies to marine and coastal waters (excl. estuarine or
transitional waters)
• Requires member states to achieve Good Environmental Status
for their seas by 2020
• GE[n]S defined according to 11 qualitative descriptors
• Programme of Measures to achieve or maintain GES needs to
established and implemented by 2016

51. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
MSFD – GES Qualitative Descriptors
1. Biological diversity (PoM includes reference to WFD)
2. Non-indigenous species (PoM includes RBMPs)
3. Fish and shellfish populations
4. Marine food-webs (PoM includes reference to WFD)
5. Human eutrophication (PoM includes RBMPs as primary measure)
6. Seafloor integrity (PoM includes RBMPs)
7. Hydrography (PoM includes RBMPs)
8. Contaminants (General) (PoM includes RBMPs as primary measure)
9. Contaminants (Fish/Shellfish) (PoM includes RBMPs)
10. Marine litter (PoM includes RBMPs)
11. Energy (Noise)
Marine Strategy Part 3: UK Programme of Measures, (Defra, 2015)

52. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Source-to-Sea Partnership Working: Opportunities
1. Replaces silo thinking; supports a joined
up approach to funding; allows a cross-
boundary ‘systems’ scale approach
leading to holistic solutions
2. Pools knowledge and resources; can
increases efficiencies and cost-
effectiveness; potential to integrate
policy and practice across government
institutions.
3. Opportunity to address broader issues,
and bring together the widest possible
range of interested parties , with different
perspectives and expertise

53. Rivers Trust Autumn Conference: 12th-13th Sept. 2016, Exeter
Source-to-Sea Partnership Working: Challenges
1. Government needs to be more joined up
within and between departments to
enhance links between environment and
economy.
2. Current lack of detailed knowledge
concerning the interactions between
terrestrial and marine systems needs to
be addressed through further research.
3. Promoting the application of ecosystem
services/natural capital approach will
help develop broader scale thinking
about the environment.

54. #RTConf16
12th & 13th September 2016
Rougemont Hotel, Exeter