Present:

Anne Homyer, BTCV London Biodiversity Project Officer (Chair)
Michelle Bourke, Marketing Officer for BTCV London (freelance) (Minutes)
Adrian Thomas, RSPB Media Officer / Spokesperson
Claire Percy, Wildlife Watch Officer (Wildlife Watch is the junior branch of the LWT)

Apologies: Alex Machin  English Nature, Scott Ferguson Education Officer at Abney Park Cemetery

1.                   Welcome and introductions.

2.                   Apologies as above. Esther has departed as Project Officer and no-one has yet filled the position. James Farrell of the GLA was also unable to attend but recommended the meeting go ahead.

3.                   The London Biodiversity Partnership Annual Report 2001, discussed at the group’s last meeting, has been published, incorporating the recommendations of the group. Anne showed the one copy received. Designed by Metalanguage Design, it looks good and is reader-friendly. It can be viewed as a PDF at http://www.lbp.org.uk/FirstAnnualReport2001.pdf

4.                   The Project Officer post was advertised in the Guardian today. A replacement for Ester will hopefully commence in early July.

5.                   Future actions and events. In order to be able to help with the communication of upcoming events, the group needs to know what is coming up. Therefore we need better communication with the Habitats & Species groups. The following discussion point may help.

6.                   Press guides timetable. It has been suggested at a project board meeting that, in order to facilitate better communication with the Habitat & Species Groups, the Communications Working Group could produce a timetable which H&S leads could use as a resource. We would need to identify, with the help of the relevant H&S groups, what time of year is best to promote each plan with a press release, what the media hooks are within each (e.g Christmas for mistletoe, heather-flowering for heathlands, bluebell-flowering for woodlands, etc). This will maximise media exposure potential. This information would then be put into a timetable which could help partners remember when to be doing what in terms of marketing their plans. This would also help give a really unified approach to promoting the partnership through action plans and raise the profile of what is being achieved.

The Press Guide Timetable would complement the LBP Communications Planning Guidelines document, published in early 2001 by Emma Robertshaw of LWT.

It should incorporate insights gained from actions that have already occurred, such as what Adrian gained from the House Sparrow Survey launch.

Action: Claire to contact all H&S groups, particularly Round 2, to confirm they are aware of the Communications Planning Guidelines document, which is a resource for them. The document can be accessed on the London Biodiversity Project’s website at: http://www.lbp.org.uk/action/communications1.htm
Claire is also checking if the Guidelines are available as an electronic document that can be emailed. 

The group made an immediate start on the press guides proposal by sifting through the LBAP document, identifying the leads for the 22 existing H&S groups (10 habitats, 12 species).

Action: James Farrell to advise Anne Homyer

a) when the next Habitats & Species are due to be announced and

b) how the Communications Working Group will be put in contact with the relevant leads, so the group can plan how to incorporate these into the Press Guides Timetable.

Action: The following members of the group are to contact the relevant lead contacts and fill in the Excel table (please find attached). Email it back to [email protected] no later than 28/08/02. The information gathered will be used to produce the Press Guides Timetable.

NB: Page 10 of the LBAP contains a listing of contact names and details for each of the leads.

7.                   Education and Resource Pack for schools. Should link in with Press Guidelines Timetable being produced, so schools can link their learning activities in with seasons of the year and H&S launches. Production of this resource will be a major task. It should be produced by someone with experience of producing educational resources. The group recommend that the LBP apply for funding to resource this. The members present were unable to discuss this further without the input of Alex or Scott.

8.                   Other business:

The Pledge project: on hold until the new Project Officer starts.

House Sparrow Survey: Adrian showed the Independent’s article on yesterday’s House Sparrow Survey launch. There was also coverage in the Evening Standard yesterday and The Times today. Considering it was a London launch, getting this National coverage was a great result. The survey will run for 3 weeks. Adrian is driving the PR for this, especially to RSPB members, all under the banner of LBP, which is great exposure. Claire mentioned there was also a mail-out to all schools.

Adrian advised that, thanks to Rita, a database now exists of the best people to send environmental stories to at various newspapers, consisting of over 200 contacts.

Anne spoke about Monday’s launch of Camden’s Biodiversity Action Plan.

9.                   Next meeting. The group’s effectiveness is hampered when members are not able to participate, so the following selection of dates, rather than a single date, was suggested for the next meeting:

2.30 pm      Thu      29/08/02

2.30pm      Wed       04/09/02

2.30pm      Thu      05/09/02

All present are able to attend all three of these dates and marked these dates tentatively in their diaries.

Action: Could those who were not present please advise Anne ASAP which of these date/s you are able to attend & she will communicate the final meeting date to all members.

Action: James Farrell to advise Anne, for communication to all other Working Group members, are the minutes of the Communications Working Group’s meetings still being posted to the website? If yes, what is the URL? 

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