Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.
PDF 81 KBVenue: Committee Room 'D' - The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions
Contact: Stuart Benson, 01772 534022, Email: stuart.benson@lancashire.gov.uk
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Welcome and Introduction to the meeting - County Councillor Jackie Oakes, Chair of the Area Management Committee (10.00am) Minutes: County Councillor Jackie Oakes welcomed everyone to the Joint Member/Officer meeting of the West Pennine Moors Area Management Committee.
Those present each introduced themselves and the organisation they represented.
Mr Hammersley
Stuart Benson, Lancashire County Council reported on the recent passing of Mr G Hammersley, a long standing member of the Committee. Mr Hammersley had served on the Committee for many years and his knowledge and experience would be sorely missed.
The Committee agreed to place on record its appreciation of Mr Hammersley's commitment and efforts over many years. |
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Project Progress (10.15am) · SSSI notification project (Natural England) · SCaMP 2 (Ian Harper, United Utilities) · Rivington Terraced Gardens project (Ben Williams, Groundwork Lancashire West and Wigan) · South Pennines Local Nature Partnership (Mark Turner, Pennine Prospects) · South Pennines Grasslands Project (John Lamb, Lancashire Wildlife Trust) Minutes: Members of the Committee were invited to give progress reports on projects and initiatives they were involved in.
SSSI
Mick Holding, Natural
England reported that work on achieving SSSI had been ongoing for 3
years. In terms of an update for the
Committee he reported that: - New officer had been appointed now who knows the area well - Flora/fauna surveys had been undertaken - Permission for access had been obtained where possible - Woods, Hay meadows had been included, as well as grassland, funghi and reptiles - All surveys, reports and legal papers were due to be approved by the Board - Further statutory processes to follow were outlined
United Utilities
Ian Harper, United Utilities gave a presentation on SCAMP 2 – Sustainable Catchment Management Programme. SCAMP is an integrated approach to catchment management incorporating sustainable upland farming which delivers a range of water quality, environmental and public goods. A copy of the presentation is attached to the minutes.
Pennine Prospects
Mark Turner, Pennine Prospects reported that an application for a Local Nature Partnership in the South Pennines had been submitted in 2012 and that application had been successful. A Steering Group had been established with a range of local authority partners, and included an economic development focus.
Six priority areas had been developed and areas of overlap identified. Organisations with an interest were encouraged to get involved as the next key stage was to get projects up and running.
The Committee noted the update reports. |
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Taking stock - implementation of the WPM Management Plan 2010-2014 (11.15am) Fiona Cruchley, LCC WPM Lead Officer. Additional documents: Minutes: Fiona Cruchley reported that local authority finances had changed drastically since 2009 and as a result of discussions at the last meeting of the Committee, it had been considered worthwhile taking stock.
A basic assessment of the West Pennine Moors Management Plan had been undertaken by officers and 139 actions had been identified. These actions were shared with the Committee and had been graded under a traffic light scheme designed to indicate progress.
Fiona reported that many actions appeared to be aspirational and were probably not achievable. It was therefore important for the Committee to look agree its priorities and what can realistically be achieved. Local authorities were increasingly becoming more focused on statutory responsibilities and this position was unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. |
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Where next for the West Pennine Moors? (11.35am) Discussion and commitment from partners. Minutes: Mark Turner, Pennine Prospects, informed the Committee that Pennine Prospects was a rural regeneration company focused on the South Pennines. It had been established in 2005 and it was felt that there was an opportunity now to look at the whole landscape and work more closely with the West Pennine Moors Area Management Committee. Pennine Prospects was already looking at partnership working and it was anticipated that a paper would be considered by the Board in March.
Members of the Committee agreed it was an opportunity to work together and across boundaries. It was considered important to consider the balance between different users eg. Mountain bikes, walker and equestrians. |
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Round-up and closing comments (12.15pm) Minutes: Everyone was thanked for their input and Fiona suggested that there was a number of questions/issues that would need to addressed and these included:
- What can be done? - What Structure is required? - How we work across the whole area
It was agreed to establish a task and Finish Group with the aim of producing proposals for consideration by the Area Management Committee at its meeting in July 2015. |