Project Board minutes



Terms of Reference
6 March 2001
19 June 2001
3 October 2001, Reports
14 May 2002, First Business Planning meeting
26 March 2003
2 May 2003, Business Planning Meeting
25 June 2003
10 October 2003



Minutes of October 10, 2003   
Greater London Authority

Present:
Peter Massini (EN)
Andrew Bedford (London Boroughs Biodiversity Forum, LB Islington)
David Bevan (LNHS)
James Farrell (GLA) Chair
Jenny Scholfield (LWT, Management Working Group)
John Archer (GLA, Records Centre Group)
Gavin Bloomfield (RSPB)
Dave Mole (London Underground)
Marina Pacheco (BTCV)
Nigel Reeve (Royal Parks) for Mike Fitt
Jan Hewllett (GLA, Funding Strategy item)
Carlo Laurenzi London Wildlife Trust (observer)

Apologies:
Mike Fitt (Royal Parks)
Mathew Frith (Peabody Trust)
William Moreno (Project Officer)
Mary Norden British Waterways (chair, Habitats, Species and Data Working Group)
Andy Tomczynski (Thames Water)
Rachel Cook EN (chair, Communications Working Group)
Tim Chapple Thames Estuary Partnership (observer)


Major items and action points

Working Group reports

Management Working Group report
It was agreed that the Management Working Group should continue to manage the appointment of consultants to produce the Partnership Development Plan

London Boroughs Biodiversity Forum report
The Forum has been working with the Metropolitan Police and GLA on a wildlife crime conference (28 November 2003). They are also working with Dave Dawson, GLA, to establish common biodiversity indicators.
Action: Andrew Bedford to send Dave's note on indicators to the Partnership

Project Officer report
It was noted that the Wetlands Project is represented on the Habitats working group.

Biodiversity Records Centre
It was agreed that the Biodiversity Records Centre steering group would have a place on the Project Board equivalent to the chairs of the working groups, not as a 'member'. John Archer will be the representative.
It was agreed that there would no longer be a separate London Biodiversity Records Centre Working Group in the Partnership.
Action: John Archer to keep the Project Board up to date with the situation regarding the records centre development plan funding bid.
Action: James Farrell/William to ensure that the Project Board Terms of Reference and Partnership MOU reflect the new structure.
Agreed: The Management Working Group will take forward the development plan work on behalf of the Project Board.

Funding working group
There was a discussion about Jan Hewlett's funding paper, which presented options for taking forward project funding work in the Partnership.
There was consensus around several points:
• Beaurocratic reporting for Action Plan Leads should be avoided
• Leads should be able to meet/share ideas regularly
• The Management Working Group Terms of Reference already include a strategic project funding advice role.

Action: Management Working Group to take on project funding role. There will not be a separate Funding working group. As part of this the Group should:
• identify a threshold at which the Partnership gives advice on a particular funding bid/situation.
• produce a protocol for dealing with these bids. It was agreed that advice would be issued by the Project Board, which could communicate via email (special meetings not necessarily needed)
• identify action plan funding priorities
• firm up the definition of the work it was agreed the GLA would undertake (through Jan Hewlett), as drafted in part a) of Jan's paper
• consider whether any changes to MWG membership are required to undertake this work.

Action: Jan Hewlett to inform leads and other NGO members of the Partnership, in advance, about planned visits to funders. Partners may have information that would be useful in Jan's meetings, and there may be sensitivities around any current bids.

Action: Jan to report back on the findings of her funding visits to leads, MWG, Project Board and other partners.
It was noted that the members of the funding group were happy to act as advisers if required in future.

Regional Biodiversity Fora Chairs Meeting
Mathew Frith attended this meeting arranged by DEFRA to assist the implementation of the England Biodiversity Strategy. He found it useful. It was noted that DEFRA considers these meetings to be an example of good practice in regional working.

Chair of the Project Board
It was agreed that James Farrell would remain as chair until the next meeting, and would take nominations in the meantime. It was agreed that the role of the Chair of the Partnership (David Goode) would be discussed as part of the Development Plan work. The exact role depends on how the Partnership will be organised as a result of this work.

It was agreed that a confirmed Chair/Champion/President should be in place at the end of this development phase.

A.O.B
Alister Hayes noted that the EU Life bid 'Sustainable Urban Network' (SUN) was successful. As a result, the following London boroughs will have biodiversity co-ordinators for a period of 2.5 years: Bromley, Hounslow, Redbridge, Richmond, Sutton.
Alister tabled the Darwin at Down prospectus for World Heritage Site status.
Gavin Bloomfield noted a possible error in the 'Desired Outputs' paper prepared by William, about 13% of funding.
It was confirmed after the meeting that the paper presented at the Board was a draft, and this item didn't appear in the document sent to consultants.

Next meeting: January

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