Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill Submission

Northern Ireland Local Government Association

NILGA Views on the proposed Wildlife and Environment Bill

Pre-amble

NILGA, the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, is the representative body for district councils in Northern Ireland. NILGA represents and promotes the interests of local authorities and is supported by all the main political parties in Northern Ireland. Biodiversity is a key issue for local government due to the huge part it plays in the quality of our environment. NILGA is pleased to be able to have an opportunity to comment on the proposed bill and we trust that our comments will be taken into account when developing the final proposals. This response has been developed in liaison with the local Biodiversity Officers.

NILGA would be happy to discuss this issue with the Committee, should an oral evidence session be planned in the future. For further information on this submission please contact k.smyth@nilga.org or call Karen Smyth at the NILGA Offices (028) 90798972

General

NILGA welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill. The Bill will replace current legislation which is outdated and lacks the necessary means of enforcing and delivering real protection for our important species and habitats.

Vital to the success of the legislation is the need to ensure its adequate resourcing and enforcement. It is essential that those who damage or destroy our important plants and animals are held accountable so that the message to all is clear – biodiversity is important in its own right, but is vital to the health and well-being of human-kind and contributes to other essential services.

The Proposed Biodiversity Duty

In general, NILGA would welcome the new duty to conserve biodiversity. We recognise the importance of biodiversity for the following reasons:

• Biodiversity has an intrinsic worth
• Biodiversity affects our quality of life in terms of enhancing a sense of well-being, contributing to landscape and townscape value and is an indicator of a healthy environment.
• It provides essential services such as flood mitigation, food, medicine, pollution control and carbon capture.
• It is an intrinsic part of sustainable development and will help to deliver many requirement of the Sustainable Development Strategy

At present, several local authorities in Northern Ireland have experience in the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. Some have appointed Biodiversity Officers on a three year contract, but only a few have retained these staff beyond NIEA’s three year funding period. Many more councils have no experience or qualified staff to deliver the Biodiversity Duty and there will be a huge gap to fill, in terms of knowledge of what the biodiversity resource is, what state it is in and how it should be managed. High levels of support will be required from central government to enable these councils to begin this process.

Another concern is in how the success or failure of local authorities and other public bodies in delivering the duty will be measured. Will assessment be carried out by the public bodies themselves or will this be carried out by central government or an independent organisation? Self-assessment is less acceptable to the public as there is a belief that statistics and measures can be made to look more effective than they actually are. Perhaps if this method of reviewing was adopted then a system such as BARS (Biodiversity Action Reporting System) or similar could be rolled out to input data and information. NILGA would also wish to raise the issue of lack of compliance. If a public body does not adequately deliver on the biodiversity duty, what are the penalties for this?

In summary, our comments on the biodiversity duty are as follows:

• The wording of the bill is ambiguous. The interpretation of ‘to further the conservation of biodiversity’ and ‘have regard to any strategy’ will be difficult to define. It is essential that this is spelt out more clearly in due course.
• Paragraph (3) (a) and (b) should include the word ‘protecting’, since conserving what is already there is the baseline for further work as follows:
  1. in relation to any species of flora or fauna, protecting, restoring or enhancing a population of that species
  2. in relation to any types of habitat, protecting, restoring or enhancing he habitat
• What are the penalties for not complying with the duty?
• Consideration must be given to the discrepancies between the (current) 26 local authorities in terms of their existing provision for biodiversity. While a few may ‘hit the ground running’ with the new duty, many others will be starting from a very basic level, so a period of adjustment needs to be factored in.
• Extensive training must be provided to enable a full understanding of what the biodiversity duty entails, as well as a suggested action plan for its delivery.
• A mechanism for assessing compliance with the duty must be devised at an early stage. If self-assessment is to be used, a system of recording must be put in place at the outset – BARS is already in use in places and further training will be required.
• If not using self-assessment, the assessment body must be decided upon and adequately resourced.
• There are several examples of areas where local authorities work together with or alongside other public bodies and central government. On occasions, local authorities carry out management tasks on other’s land and vice versa. Where this work affects or potentially affects biodiversity, it must be carefully considered eg cutting of roadside verges and dredging of waterways.

The Biodiversity Strategy

NILGA would welcome a review of the Biodiversity Strategy as the current strategy is now out of date and does not adequately reflect current issues such as concerns over climate change and recent EU policies.

Biodiversity Lists

NILGA agrees that the Department must publish up-to-date lists of important species of flora and fauna but would query the ambiguity of the action in 3. (3) (a) take such steps as appear to the Department to be reasonably practicable …

Offences and Licensing

Recklessness

NILGA would support a clause on recklessness since many breaches of Wildlife law can either be due to recklessness or cannot be proved to be intentional. However, we would ask that consideration be given to including this in Schedule 9 (invasive alien species). Local authorities may well end up allocating a lot of resources to reduce or remove alien invasives, in order to enhance native biodiversity or protect public health eg Giant Hogweed. Careless dispersal or introduction of such species through recklessness should therefore also be included as an offence.

Protection of Basking Sharks from Disturbance

NILGA would agree with this action but would query how such disturbance could be monitored or detected.

Introduction of new Species

NILGA agrees with these proposals. As was mentioned previously, there should be an offence of intentionally and/or recklessly allowing the dispersal or introduction of alien invasive species as this can be done through careless disposal or movement of contaminated soil.

Prohibition on sale etc of invasive non-native species

NILGA would strongly support this clause. The species included in the relevant schedules should be subject to review or addition as soon as a species is recognized as a potential invasive. It is likely that the prohibition on selling certain ornamental ‘garden’ species may lead to alternatives being imported which may be equally damaging, therefore early action is required before the species becomes too difficult to control.

Enforcement of Wildlife Inspectors

NILGA supports these proposals but strongly believe that adequate resources will need to be provided to enable wildlife inspectors to investigate and deal with offences in an efficient and effective manner.

Amendments to the Game Preservation Act

We would agree with the repeal of The Game Act 1831.

Consideration should be given to a requirement to report on numbers and species of birds taken. This is standard in other European countries and would allow for a better understanding of the level of wildfowling and the potential effects it has on species of wild game birds.

NILGA would also support the proposals regarding

• Causing or permitting unlawful acts
• Defences in relation to offences under Article 4
• Disqualification for registration
• Protection of wild plants
• Licenses under Artice 18
• Discharging firearms etc from a vehicle
• Licenses relating to deer
• Possession of articles for purposes of committing offences
• Possession of articles for purposes of committing a certain offence
• Enforcement
• Powers of Constables
• Protection of the Nests of Certain Birds
• Snares
• TIME LIMIT FOR PROSECUTION OF SUMMARY OFFENCES
• Time limit for prosecution fo summary offences
• Penalties
• Application to the crown
• Review of Schedules (every five years is appropriate)
• Offences in connection with Areas of Special Scientific Interest