The Somerset Liberal Democrat Group is supporting Somerset Wildlife Trust and the RSPB in calling for the Conservative Administration to think again about their proposed severe cuts to the Somerset Countryside, Wildlife and Environment Service.

Last week, Somerset Local Nature Partnership (SLNP), which represents a wide range of organisations and individuals, including RSPB, Somerset Wildlife Trust sent a strongly worded letter to county council leader John Osman asking him to urgently suspend implementing the cuts outlined in the County’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for its Countryside, ecology and environment services. These were considered by the County’s scrutiny committee yesterday and will go to full cabinet on 6 February.

See here for the story from Somerset Wildlife Trust – http://www.somersetwildlife.org/news.html 

and here from the RSPB: http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/339193-nature-partnership-urges-somerset-county-council-to-reconsider-savage-cuts-to-its-environment-service–

At the Scrutiny meeting last week, Lib Dem cllr Sam Crabb (leader of the Somerset County Liberal Democrats) said – “the Countryside, Wildlife and Environment service provides an invaluable range of services to the people of Somerset. They help bring in many visitors and secured grants last year totalling £7.2 million. It is again madness to cut a service that helps drive the economy of Somerset.” He added “cutting the water management post in such times must be the wrong decision.”

Simon Nash, Chair of Somerset Local Nature Partmership and CEO of Somerset Wildlife Trust has stated “As we have understood more about the rationale used to determine the proposed cuts we have become even more concerned. We believe the process to be deeply flawed.”

Mark Robins of the RSPB has stated: “Our natural environment is not a luxury, but a necessity we can’t afford to do without. It underpins everything we do in the county. As many Somerset residents understand, it makes good sense to look after our environment today, recognising the natural services that sustain us, the assets that attract business investment, and the special places that draw people here to live.”

The suggested cuts came to light following the Council’s publication of the Medium Term Financial Plan on Tuesday 22nd January. This contained proposals for nearly £18 million of savings across the next 3 years and included £184,000 (about 1.2%) coming from the axing of ecology and natural environment-related posts.

Mendip District Council has a service level agreement with Somerset County Council for 22 days a year for Ecologists to review planning applications. This would certainly leave a hole if this cut goes through. In order to comply with wildlife law (NERC Act 2006) Ecology consultants would have to be hired by all users. Yet another cut that costs more than it saves.

Somerset Wildlife Trust have also prepared a Briefing, copied below:

”Somerset County Council Mid Term Financial Plan (MTFP): proposed cuts to ecological and natural environment services, 1st February 2013

On Tuesday 22nd January Somerset County Council (SCC) released its Mid Term Financial Plan (MTFP) which contains proposals for nearly £18 million of savings across the next 3 years. Cost savings are being sought from the majority of County Council services, and will come through a combination of non-staff budget cuts, staff redundancies, and efficiencies through restructuring, contract consolidation and partnership arrangements.

Services relating to ecological advice, biodiversity and the wider environment are all affected by the proposals. The savings are frontloaded into the 13/14 financial year (circa £16.4 million), with around £184,000 (about 1.2%) coming from ecology and natural environment-related post deletions in the “Environmental Resources”, “Countryside and Coast” and “Strategic Planning“ service areas.

There are apparently discrepancies between information given to staff and information in the MTFP regarding the scale of cuts. From talking to staff and reading the MTFP and accompanying impacts assessment, SWT understands the following posts will be cut:

• Countryside Manager (1 post)
• Project Team Workers and Supervisor (3 posts)
• Project / Canal team (number of posts unknown)
• Ecologist (1 post)
• Biodiversity Project Officer (1 post)
• Coast and Catchment/Levels and Moors Officer (1 post)

The shape of the Countryside Services is changed significantly by the removal of the above posts plus a reorganisation with remaining staff going to Highways, Commissioning & ‘Operations’, essentially becoming “reactive” on issues that arise. All district authorities have been contacted with a request to contribute funding to ecological services on planning issues, which will contribute to retention of ecology post/s at the County Council. Of the remaining staff there would be the following:

• Ecologist (1 post)
• Arboriculturalist (1 post, moved to Highways)
• Coast and Catchment/Levels and Moors Project Officer (1 post, although position unclear after end of WAVE funding)
• Countryside Project Officer Trevor Wall (understood to be a 0.2 FTE)

The total SCC budget for ecology, nature conservation and countryside in 12/13 is budgeted at:

£210,970 for staff; £145,700 for projects and contractors (of which £82,700 is for highway tree works). For the same year, income generated for SCC through these staff to cover staff costs is £20,000, and income secured for environmental investment across the county is £635,000. No service review or consultation process with partners/stakeholders has been completed prior to announcing these cuts, to establish what the true costs/benefits are likely to be.

Issues

SCC is essentially withdrawing all proactive resources for the natural environment, with implications for the state of Somerset’s environment, partnership activities, community engagement, and more.

The impacts of these cuts are likely to be varied, but will include SCCs partnership work on nature conservation, community nature engagement and outreach, and quality of ecological advice on planning issues. Somerset Wildlife Trust is especially concerned about the following: 

• Precedent: From information available, it looks as if SCC will be the first upper tier authority in the South West to undertake such severe reductions in ecological and countryside services, potentially setting a precedent to other authorities seeking to make savings. The request to other authorities within the county to fund ecology services at County Council may be at the cost of district authority services.
• Statutory compliance: SCC’s statutory duties towards biodiversity and the natural environment, particularly in relation to spatial planning and review of permissions across Natura 2000 sites, may not be discharged, with attendant risk of environmental impacts arising.
• Decision making: With no-one to champion the natural environment internally, it is likely that it will slip further down the agenda, investment opportunities will be missed, and poor consideration will be given to environmental issues.
• Loss of enabler: SCC staff working in partnership with other organisations have brought expertise, access to skills, and resources which have been vital in securing European funds to deliver large-scale environmental conservation projects. These projects have brought considerable investment and income generation to the county. Examples include SL&M where one Project Manager has been involved in generating around £7million of direct and indirect income for the area over the last 5 years.
• Erosion of socio-economic benefits: Somerset’s natural environment is our USP – it is what makes Somerset a fantastic place to live, work and play. It also provides us with many free goods and services – from fertile soils and crop pollination, to clean air and water, flood and carbon storage, and much more besides. It gives us spaces to play in, to feel better in, to contemplate, to enjoy. Action to keep our natural world healthy and functioning is ultimately in our best interest.

Action

If you as an individual or your organisation have concerns about these cuts, there are things you can do:

1. Raise this issue with your friends and neighbours – discuss the implications these cuts have for you and your community. Generate interest and get people thinking and talking about what they want to see happening for their natural world. Can you persuade them to submit comments to the Leader of the County Council and his Cabinet? Cabinet contact details can be found here: http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/council/boards.asp?boardnum=3

2. As an individual, write to your County Councillors – some Councillors have been in touch with SWT voicing concerns about the plan and the way the information in it has been presented. The more they hear from their electorate about the subject, the better. Can you take the time to write, email, or meet with them to talk about what these cuts might mean? You don’t have to be an expert on environmental issues to do this – speak from the heart, talk about what you value and why, and hopefully they will listen.

3. Write to your MP – this issue harks to a wider problem about the way the natural environment is being portrayed by the Government. Can you help get across to our politicians the message that a healthy environment is crucial for us, our well-being, our future?”