Welcome to the West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership Newsletter.

In this message:

	Welcome to our new style Newsletter
	West Midlands Biodiversity Pledge
	Welcome to AWM
	Woodpasture and Parkland Audit
	New Targets for Regional Spatial Strategy

Welcome to our new style Newsletter

Welcome to the new West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership Newsletter.  We hope that you find the information useful and wish to remain on our mailing list.  We intend to produce similar newsletters on a more regular basis to ensure everyone is kept up to date with important information on the work of the regional partnership, its partners and the local BAP partnerships.  Please let me know your thoughts on the contents of our newsletters and also please let me know if you have any news that you would like to include in future editions.  We are also working on the content of our new web site which will be launched early in the new year.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Jeff Edwards (Regional Biodiversity Coordinator)

West Midlands Biodiversity Pledge

We are really pleased to learn that Malvern Hills District Council, Stoke City Council and Warwickshire County Council have agreed to sign the West Midlands Biodiversity Pledge. The Pledge is a joint initiative between the WMBP and the West Midlands LGA.  With the addition of these three authorities we now have 15 authorities across the region that have agreed to sign.  The WMBP in association with the local BAP partnerships will continue to encourage the remaining authorities to also sign up.  We consider that by signing the pledge local authorities show their commitment to biodiversity and to the Biodiversity Duty under Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act. The Biodiversity Duty applies to all public bodies including local authorities.  The Pledge is designed specifically for Local Authorities and sets out a number of points that each authority should consider to ensure that they are following the guidance produced by Defra.  Further details of the duty and Defra's guidance can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2007/070522b.htm

 Photo of the Mayor of Stoke City Council signing the Pledge with Rob Williams from Natural England representing the WMBP 

Welcome to AWM

I am pleased to announce that Advantage West Midlands has agreed to join the West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership.  WMBP has always worked closely with AWM holding regular meetings with key individuals to discuss areas of common interest such as the development of their Natural Assets programme.  AWM also sponsored our annual conference in 2007.  We look forward to furthering our links with AWM to ensure that biodiversity remains high on the regional agenda. 

Woodpasture and Parkland Audit

Just Ecology Environmental Consultancy have been appointed by Natural England to produce an audit of Woodpastures and Parklands across the region.  The contract is being run in association with the West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership and members of the ‘Trees Woods & Forests Biodiversity’ sub-group are helping to steer the project.  If you have any information concerning sites which support veteran trees, woodpastures or parklands in your area please can you contact Rob Frith at Just Ecology. Tel 01454 269650, rob.frith@justecology.co.uk, www.justecology.com
 

New Targets for Regional Spatial Strategy

The Regional Assembly have appointed Treweek Environmental Consultants to review the current regional habitat targets  which are outlined in both the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy and the Regional Biodiversity Strategy.  The contract is being run with the assistance of the West Midlands Biodiversity Partnership.  In October we held a workshop to consider the work to be undertaken and further details of the project and the workshopcan be found on the Regional Assembly web site at: http://www.wmra.gov.uk/Environment_and_Waste/Environment_and_Waste.aspx

The project aims to:
• use best available data including as much local data as possible (including that collected through the WMBP Regional Habitat Data project),
• calculate the extent of new habitat required to develop resilient landscapes to assist with climate change adaptation to 2050 and calculate the revised targets for the RSS to 2026.
The project will:
• identify habitat networks within and outside the regional opportunity areas (as defined in the Landscapes for Living Regional Opportunities Map) i.e. areas of existing priority habitat,
• investigate potential areas for habitat restoration/creation within and outside the regional opportunity areas,
• calculate the extent of new habitat required for each priority BAP habitat e.g. by expanding existing habitat within and adjoining networks.

 The consultants are expected to report their findings to the Regional Assembly in January.