Miles King kindly reminded us all through his blog last week (see here) that the new Chairman of Natural England, Andrew Sells, starts work this week.
What a fabulous job: leading government's statutory body for nature conservation. But it is not the easiest time to take the helm.
Miles chose to focus his advice on Natural England's human resources (both Board and staff). Mr Sells can do little about the economic and political context within which he is working and he is unable to reverse the cuts that the Agency has suffered over the past few years. But he inherits a dedicated and talented workforce and can, of course, help create the right conditions for success.
I am sure advice will be flying in from all quarters and the Secretary of State will no doubt have shared his expectations.
Ouse Washes RSPB Reserve. Bewick's Swans at dawn (rspb-images.com)
To my mind, however, his best guide can be found in the legislation that established Natural England - the NERC Act. This outlines Natural England's core purpose: "to ensure the natural environment is conserved, protected and enhanced for the benefits of present and future generations, thereby contributing to sustainable development". The message is simple - do and say whatever nature needs, irrespective of the economic context.
A further steer can be found in government's international commitments (the Aichi targets and the EU Nature Directives), and domestically in the outcomes in Natural Environment White Paper and England BIodiversity Strategy (see here). You cannot get clearer set of performance targets for sites, species and habitats. Focus on these and Natural England will help us live up my conservation mantra of 2014 (see here): stop the rot, protect the best and restore the rest.
I look forward to meeting Mr Sells - he is due to visit the Lodge soon. The RSPB wants and needs Natural England to be successful and I wish him the very best of luck.
Thanks both - sounds like 21st century thinking to me.
It may not have been intentional (maybe it is !) but I think you have the answer in your marvellous picture of the Ouse Washes. This round of flooding has at last flushed out (sorry)a string of articles and letters in the media suggesting there are alternatives to simply pouring more concrete as flood defences. At last, the idea that working with the land rather than trying to control it holds at least some of the solution. It is timely: we're arguing about a few £ hundred million, but the Foresight report on flooding suggested the flood bill could rise to £40 BILLION per annum as a result of Climate change.Mr Sells has no doubt been brought in as a businessman to make NE more efficient. I've worked with a few of those over the years - they generally assumed they could fix the world timber market, and failing that tinkered with the expenses budget. That isn't business by my reckoning - maybe Mr Sells can do better and, instead of accepting yet further cuts to stick a finger in the dyke of EA's own budget cuts, maybe he can get together with EA and then farming community to start seriously farming water - using the land to plan where the water goes, and rewarding the people who hold it, and saving both houses from flooding and money. And, as this is natural England, breaking the mould of doing one thing at a time with each bit of land by planning equally for wildlife.
I think one thing Mr Sells could do is to bring more openess to Natural England. The current communications policy with the general public seems to have an element of secrecy about it. This lack of communication with NGOs and individuals should be changed. Clearly some confidentiality in Natural England's work is needed but the current policy seems too restrictive.