Many moons ago we put together a pack of advice about how individuals and communities could get involved in putting nature at the heart of local planning. Then, the need was clear – there is a huge appetite for people like you to get stuck into protecting the important wildlife sites and features that make your area special. Now the need is even greater – and on top of that, the planning system is undergoing massive change.
Our Conservation Officers working throughout the UK have something like 1200 pieces of live casework on the go each year – you’ve read about some of them in these posts. With the potential for several thousand neighbourhood plans at the heart of the new system (in England), the scale of the task means that we all need to be in this together.
The ‘Take Action for Wildlife’ pack is now in need of a thorough review – and we’ve just kicked that process off.
Would you like to help?
I’d love to hear what you think of the current pack – not so much the detail, more the approach. Usually people come to this information in the heat of facing a planning application that may (or may not) threaten important and special places, how could we encourage you (and people like you) to get involved earlier in the process?
Please post comments and let me know what you think – our new pack needs to work for people just like you.
Today at the Lodge nature reserve the frost was magical, so much so my camera made a rare appearance (and I was a little late at the meeting called to start work on our new ‘Take Action for Wildlife Pack’) – I hope you like it.
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Wards, parishes and community groups will need the best advice on all matters including the environment. Having looked quickly at the English pack, which is extremely informative, we would suggest a 'One Stop Shop' for all of this information rather than fifteen separate downloads.
Living here in the Thames Estuary we are quite certain that many communities will quickly find the new version of 'Taking Action for Wildlife' a very valuable addition to their library.
Friends of the North Kent Marshes
Have at last managed to skip through the English pack. Lots of good stuff but it is quite fragmented and a bit disjointed - I would try and unify the new version more. Not sure how the new planning system will work but clearly local people need to influence matters at the earliest stage possible. Some of the questions about development proposals at this years AGM showed how tricky this whole area is.
It was worth reading the pack just to find the advice "Remember, a [radio or TV] studio is no place for original thought!" That explains quite a lot!
Thanks - the camera usually now only comes out for family events (I never quite made the transition from film to digital) - but today's frost was special. Look forward to your thoughts on the pack
A wonderful, evocative photo. I like to tell myself that the reason I don't take more photos is that I don't want the camera to get in the way of enjoying what I see - but I'm probably just lazy. Will try and look at the pack though!