Agenda and minutes

Cathy Hopley welcomed everyone to the meeting and to a recently refurbished Dunsop Bridge Village Hall.

The Forest of Bowland AONB Joint Advisory Committee are asked to appoint a Chair and Vice Chair for the municipal year 2014/15.

Resolved:-

County Councillor Albert Atkinson and County Councillor Mrs Susie Charles were appointed Chair and Vice-Chair respectively for the 2014/15 Municipal Year.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None declared.

Resolved: The Committee approved the Consitution, Membership and Terms of Reference for 2014/15, and noted that Mr R Hymas had replaced Mr N Clark from Natural England. 

Resolved: The minutes of the meeting held on 24 April 2014 were agreed as an accurate record, subject to a minor amendment in relation to attendance:

Barrie Tyrer had been incorrectly recorded as having given apologies when he was in attendance.

It was reported that Craven Local Plan had been published for consultation purposes and members of the Joint Advisory Committee were invited to respond on an individual basis.

Resolved:- That the update be noted.

The Joint Advisory Committee was informed that the Moorland Association was a membership organisation for the owners and managers of moorland in England and Wales representing over 1 million acres of uplands, with representatives on the executive committees for both Nidderdale and North Pennines AONB.

Within the Forest of Bowland AONB, the Moorland Association membership covers over 26,000 ha; roughly one third of the designated area and almost all of the area above the moorland line. Members include a wide range from small syndicate shoots to large corporate land owners such as United Utilities who collectively are custodians of almost all of the acreage of the Bowland Fells SSSI and SPA.  As a result, it was therefore considered appropriate to approve the appointment of a nominated representative from the Moorland Association to the Joint Advisory Committee

Resolved:- That a nominated representative from the Moorland Association be appointed to the Joint Advisory Committee.

Nick Osborne presented a report on Revised Estimates 2014/15 and Revenue Budget 2015/16 and 2016/17.  He reported that Lancashire County Council was able to continue its cash contribution for 2015/16 but the position could change in future years as a result of the financial pressures being faced.

Mike Pugh had recently taken voluntary redundancy and would be a significant loss to the Joint Advisory Committee.  As a result of the slightly reduced salary costs, additional funding was available for project funds.

Resolved:- That,

i)  the 2014/15 Revised Estimates be noted.

ii)  the 2015/16 Revenue Budget as set out in the report be approved,

iii)  funding authorities be requested to make appropriate provision in their revenue budgets, and

iv)  Mike Pugh be thanked for his contributions to the work of the Joint Advisory Committee.

The Committee received the AONB Unit Report which provided updates on a whole range of issues and projects, as detailed in the full report presented.

Resolved:- That the report be noted.

Cathy Hopley presented an update on the proposal to conserve the heritage assets of the Pendle Hill landscape through the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership Scheme.  It is intended to bring together the two sides and two communities to celebrate its value to both sides of the hill.

A number of themed proposals were proposed making up a total bid of £2.24m of which an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund will be made (75%). This leaves a challenging £550,000 to be raised by the Landscape Partnership, over the course of four or five years.  Although the programme will be partly delivered by a programme team, we will be encouraging partners to take on the responsibility of leading some of the projects, and bringing the match funds to the table – either from their own resources or from other grant pots.

A draft timeline was presented and further details would be presented to the next meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee in April 2015.

Resolved:- That the report be noted.

Elliott Lorimer presented a report on a bid which could bring in approximately £1.2m worth of funding to Lancashire for the protection of peatland in the Forest of Bowland.

Several partnerships involved in planning, managing and delivering peatland restoration projects across the north of England, including the North Pennines AONB and Yorkshire Peat Partnership have come together under the umbrella of a 'Pennine Peat Partnership' with the principal aim of co-ordinating and applying for European Union LIFE+ funding to support a large-scale £multi-million project from the Bowland to the Scottish border.  The proposed total value of the programme is approximately £9million.  £4million is being sought from EU LIFE+ and match-funding from Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, Environment Agency, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has been ear-marked.

With the aid of the 'Priority Peat' reports, six restoration sites have been identified in Bowland and one in Rossendale to be included in the funding bid, based on priority and availability of match-funding from the Environment Agency and United Utilities.

It was likely that the Forest of Bowland AONB would commit £3000 per annum from the existing AONB revenue budget to support the costs of employing a restoration project officer to work on the Lancashire restoration sites.  In addition, limited "in-kind" officer time estimated at 2 - 3 days/month would be contributed from the AONB Unit/Lancashire County Council towards project management, mentoring for the Lancashire-based restoration officer and attendance at project steering group meetings.

Resolved:- That the report be noted.

Elliott Lorimer reported that Local Nature Partnerships (LNPs) are partnerships of a broad range of local organisations, businesses and people who aim to help bring about improvements to their local natural environment.  Setting up LNPs was one of the commitments Government made in the Natural Environment White Paper 2011.

During the recent review of the Forest of Bowland AONB Management Plan it became apparent that there were strong synergies between the policy objectives of the Management Plan and those of the Northern Upland Chain (NUC) Local Nature Partnership, particularly in terms of land management, economy and conservation.  As a result the potential for Forest of Bowland to join the Northern Upland Chain LNP was tentatively explored and further discussions were planned in November.

Resolved:- That approval be given for the Principal AONB Officer to pursue this matter further.

Verbal Updates

-  European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

-  LEADER Local Action Groups

-  Dunsop and Gisburn Forest Plans consultations

Members were informed that it was time for the Joint Advisory Committee consider re-applying for the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas.

The Forest of Bowland AONB had enjoyed fantastic benefits including the Green Tourism Forum and a much increased profile.  However, the costs of re-applying were now considered to be prohibitive and on balance, officers did not believe the Charter was worth the significant effort and resource.

Elliott Lorimer reported that the Forestry Commission had published its Dunsop and Gisburn Forest Plans for the purposes of consultation.

Resolved:- That the update be noted and the approve that the Joint Advisory Committee does not re-apply for the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

An item of Urgent Business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Members' intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of urgent business.

The date of the next meeting will be held on Thursday 23 April 2015 – Lancaster District (venue to be confirmed)

It was noted that the date of the next meeting will be held on Thursday 23 April 2015 – Lancaster District (venue to be confirmed).