CEP to deliver a new project on the evaluation of Biodiversity Net Gain

CEP has been awarded a new project by Natural England and Defra on the design of an evaluation framework for Biodiversity Net Gain in England

CEP, in partnership with BSG Ecology, Geodata Institute, CECAN and Vivid Economics, has been commissioned by Natural England on behalf of Defra to undertake a new project to design an evaluation framework for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in England. The aim of mandatory BNG policy, as set out in the Environment Bill, is to secure a measurable improvement in habitat for biodiversity whilst streamlining the planning process and creating better places for local communities.

The purpose of the evaluation framework is to enable Natural England and Defra to evaluate how BNG is being delivered and understand the impact (environmental, social, and economic) of the BNG policy.

In this project we will conduct a streamlined evidence review to bring together the most up to date relevant evidence on key issues related to BNG. This evidence will feed into the development of the evaluation framework, including setting out the underpinning intervention theory by examining the logic of mandatory BNG and the intervention pathways associated with delivering BNG in practice. Development of the framework will be further supported by work to scope the data requirements and potential sources. The process will be iterative, incorporating a range of stakeholder perspectives from developers, local planning authorities, conservation, amenity and local community NGOs and partnerships as well as central government.

The project started in September 2020 and is expected to run until March 2021.

For more information, please contact Paula Orr (Technical Director, CEP) or Dr Sian Morse-Jones (Principal Consultant, CEP).

CEP commissioned to undertake Clyde marine public dialogue

Photo credit: 'Ardrossan Harbour Sunset' by Oliver Clarke on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP commissioned to undertake public dialogue to support the development of the Clyde Regional Marine Plan

CEP, working with SAMS Research Services Limited (SRSL), has been commissioned by the Clyde Marine Planning Partnership (CMPP) to design and deliver a public dialogue to support the development of the Clyde Regional Marine Plan (CRMP).

The dialogue will engage with around 30 members of the public from two locations in the CRMP area to: discuss how people engage with, use and benefit from the marine environment; consider key marine planning and management issues; and deliberate on potential policy options and measures for consideration in the emerging draft CRMP. 

The project builds on successful public dialogue work undertaken by CEP for Marine Scotland on the social impacts of offshore renewables and other, land-based participatory planning work undertaken by CEP for Scottish Natural Heritage in the Pentland Hills Regional Park.

For more information please contact Paula Orr (Project Director) or  Dr Peter Phillips (Project Manager).

CEP participatory land use planning webinar

An introduction to participatory land use planning: making it work for people and the environment 

WEBINAR: Thursday 13th July 2017, 1.00 - 1.30 pm British Summer Time (GMT+1)

Participatory land use planning is an internationally-recognised approach to making decisions about how land, water and natural resources are managed and used. It has significant implications for those involved in managing environmental assets in the UK. The UN Sustainable Development Goals reinforce the need for it to be applied. In this webinar, CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Dr Bill Sheate will introduce this topic and the associated one-day training course (on 6 September). They will draw on work they have undertaken for The Pentland Hills Regional Park, commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage.

CEP delivering keynote at ESCom conference 2017

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a keynote address on participatory land use planning at the ESCom 2017 conference 

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips will be delivering a keynote presentation at the ESCom 2017 conference on 'Participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills: using ecosystem service values to inform decision-making'. The keynote on Monday 24th April 2017 will be based on CEP's current work in the Pentland Hills Regional Park which is supporting an established stakeholder group to apply the ecosystem approach to collaborative land use and management. The keynote presentation will be co-delivered with Neville Makan from Scottish Natural Heritage and Katja Schmidt from the University of Potsdam.

For further information contact Dr Peter Phillips (Senior Consultant) p.phillips@cep.co.uk

Training courses in natural capital and participatory planning now booking

CEP TRAINING COURSES FOR EKN IN NATURAL CAPITAL AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING NOW BOOKING

Dr Bill Sheate and Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a series of training courses for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN) during 2017, following the success of our one-day training course on Incorporating ecosystem services into environmental assessment run in London and Manchester during 2016.

The Ecosystem Service and Environmental Assessment course will be run again in Scotland and in Birmingham in May and June 2017 respectively.  In addition, a new one-day training course in Participatory Land Use Planning will run back-to-back with that course:-

INCORPORATING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND NATURAL CAPITAL INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth, Central Scotland, 10th May 2017. With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
• Austin Court, Central Birmingham B1 2NP, 8th June 2017.

PARTICIPATORY LAND USE PLANNING AND THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH: WHAT, WHEN AND HOW

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth PH1 3EW, 9th May 2017.  With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.

For further information and links for booking see below:

CEP to provide further support for participatory planning in the Pentlands

Photo credit: 'A sunny day in the Pentland hills' by John Mason on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP awarded contract extension to support participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills Regional Park

In 2016, CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Paula Orr undertook a successful project for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) supporting ecosystems approach based participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills Regional Park. The report from this project will be published shortly. SNH have now awarded CEP a contract extension to develop this work further by translating the strategic Park-wide results and recommendations into more detailed management plans for two of the ecosystem service 'hotspot' areas identified in the 2016 work. As part of this extension work, CEP will design a further participative planning workshop. This will be delivered with key land managers and other stakeholders in February 2017.    

CEP runs training courses for EKN in 2017

CEP TRAINING COURSES FOR ECOSYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE NETWORK IN 2017

Dr Bill Sheate and Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a series of training courses for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN) during 2017, following the success of our one-day training course on Incorporating ecosystem services into environmental assessment run in London and Manchester during 2016.

The Ecosystem Service and Environmental Assessment course will be run again in Scotland and in Birmingham in May and June 2017 respectively.  In addition, a new one-day training course in Participatory Land Use Planning will run back-to-back with that course:-

INCORPORATING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND NATURAL CAPITAL INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth, Central Scotland, 10th May 2017. With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
• Austin Court, Central Birmingham B1 2NP, 8th June 2017.

PARTICIPATORY LAND USE PLANNING AND THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH: WHAT, WHEN AND HOW

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth PH1 3EW, 9th May 2017.  With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
• Austin Court, Central Birmingham B1 2NP, 7th June 2017.

For further information and links for booking see below:

The future of SA and SEA

Photo credit: London December 1 2014 001 Bloomberg Place by David Hold on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Practitioners respond to the LPEG's report TO PROVE THE VALUE OF SA AND SEA

CEP’s Ric Eales and Bill Sheate have co-authored a paper, prepared by a group of sustainability appraisal (SA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practitioners from eight consultancies (AECOM, Amec Foster Wheeler, CEP, Levett-Therivel, LUC, Ramboll Environ, Steve Lees Planning and TRL) and Oxford Brookes University, in response to the Local Plans Expert Group’s (LPEG) 2016 Report on Local Plans to the Communities Secretary and to the Minister of Housing and Planning.

The paper - ‘Sustainability appraisal: from LPEG’s “little genuine assistance” to making a real sustainable difference’ – challenges the LPEG report’s overall dismissive tone regarding SA/SEA, whilst acknowledging some areas of improvement are needed.  It focusses on developing a ‘next generation’ approach to SA/SEA, within the context of Brexit, which improves plan making and stakeholder engagement and contributes to more sustainable development.

The authors welcome LPEG’s interest in improving the process, but conclude that they believe that SA/SEA is a robust, insightful tool, informative to plan makers and those affected by plans and, if done well, can help plug a key local democratic deficit.

The paper is available here.

EU publishes SEA Directive Effectiveness study

CEP a contributing author TO European Commission Study on the effectiveness of the SEA Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC)

An important review study of the SEA Directive, to which CEP contributed, was published recently by the European Union.  The objective of the Study concerning the preparation of the report on the application and effectiveness of the SEA Directive (Directive 2001/42/EC) was to provide the Commission with information on Member States’ progress and challenges experienced in the application of the Council Directive 2001/42/EC (‘SEA Directive’) on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment for the period 2007-2014.

The study analysed the practical implementation of the SEA Directive across all 28 Member States and then evaluated the performance of the legislation to understand how environmental considerations have been integrated into planning processes and the extent to which the SEA Directive contributes to achieving better and more coherent planning.  The study found that the SEA Directive has brought about some significant benefits to strategic planning, while also making recommendations that could further improve its efficiency, effectiveness and coherence into the future.

Dr Bill Sheate and Ric Eales from CEP contributed to the study as expert advisors, in association with Milieu Ltd, Brussels.

CEP delivered seminar at James Hutton Institute

Photo credit: 'land lines' by apalca on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips delivered a seminar on land use policy evaluation at JHI

On 28th July, CEP's Dr Peter Phillips gave an invited seminar to members of the James Hutton Institute Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) Research Group. His seminar was entitled Evaluating policies for sustainable land use - methods and case studies and built on CEP's land use and natural environment policy evaluation and research expertise and experience in Scotland and elsewhere. 

CEP authors contribute to international SEA book

CEP authors contribute to new book: European and International Experiences of Strategic Environmental Assessment: Recent Progress and Future Prospects

Bill Sheate and Ric Eales are co-authors of Chapter 8[1]  in the recently published Routledge text book European and International Experiences of Strategic Environmental Assessment: Recent Progress and Future Prospects, edited by Barry Sadler and Jiří Dusík [2].  

This book brings together the latest thinking in Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and considers the key question of whether the processes are having a positive impact on strategic decision making, both in Europe and worldwide.  Bill and Ric draw on their experiences with SEA practice and the wider literature to examine the effectiveness of national SEA systems in Europe. They identify main trends and developments; key issues and perspectives; key lessons regarding process effectiveness and quality of practice; and future directions and prospects.[3]

[1] Chapter 8: Effectiveness of European national SEA systems: How are they making a difference?

[2] Published 24 March 2016.  Look inside the book here for contents and introduction.

[3] See here for a pre-print of the chapter.

CEP supports ecosystems approach for SNH

CEP wins new project to deliver stakeholder workshop and support ecosystems approach-based land use planning

CEP has been commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage to develop and deliver a stakeholder led process that will apply the ecosystems approach to collaborative land use and management in the Pentland Hills Regional Park . Working with land use / management stakeholders in the Park's Consultative Forum, CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Paula Orr will explore the benefits currently provided by the Park, potential drivers of change and practical opportunities to deliver shared values in the long-term. The outputs of this work will inform the forthcoming management plan for the Park.

This project builds on previous work undertaken by CEP in Scotland on land use policy and practice, including the Scottish Land Use Strategy Delivery Evaluation for the Scottish Government and the Evaluation of the Land Use Strategy Forestry Focussed Sub-Regional Pilot Studies for Forestry Commission Scotland.