21 Website . Forum: 3. Steve Hannah Company House details 2. Minutes of 18th Meeting Minutes for the 18th Meeting were sent out on 20/1/14 along with a number of documents that had

Community Interest Company: Incorporation number 06951023 2nd July 2009Registered Office: c/o rECOrd, Cedar House, Chester Zoological Gardens,

Upton, Chester, Cheshire CH2 1LH Website www.ALERC.org.uk. Forum: http://forum.lrcs.org.uk21

Minutes of the 21st meeting of ALERCWednesday 29th January 2014: 10:30a.m. to 4:00p.m.Offices of EcoRecord16 Greenfield Crescent, Edgbaston, Birmingham. B15 3AU

5 minutes walk from Fiveways Railway Station (trains from New street to Fiveways leave every 10 mins and take 3 minutes) Note that these new offices are around the corner from the previous offices, opposite the sandwich shop.

ALERC 18 2

Community Interest Company: Incorporation number 06951023 2nd July 2009Registered Office: c/o rECOrd, Cedar House, Chester Zoological Gardens, Upton, Chester, Cheshire CH2 1LHWebsite www.ALERC.org.uk. Forum: http://forum.lrcs.org.uk

MetadataAddressee Directors: ALERC cic Coverage.spatial U.K.Creators Darwyn Sumner Company Secretary Association of Local Environmental Records

Centres cic 122, Link Road, Anstey, Leicestershire LE7 7BX Tel: 0116 212 5075

Email: [email protected] January 2014Format Adobe portable document (pdf)Identifier ALERC 25.30.21AMandate Memorandum and Articles of

Association: Association of Local Environmental Records Centres Community Interest Company. Incorporation number 06951023

13: Records to be kept, parts 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 2c

25: General Meetings 30: Minutes parts 1, 2 Publisher Association of Local Environmental

Records Centres cicRights.copyright Association of Local Environmental

Records Centres cicSource Association of Local Environmental

Records Centres cicStatus Version bSubject Agenda to General MeetingTitle Agenda to the 18th Meeting of ALERC 29th January 2014Type DraftDigital Signature

DirectorsChair Nicky Court Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Capital House, 48-52 Andover Road, Winchester,

Hampshire, SO23 7BH Tel: 01962 832322 Email: [email protected] Eric Fletcher rECOrd Oakfield House Chester Zoological Gardens Upton, Chester, Cheshire CH2 1LH Tel: 01244 383749 Email: [email protected] Secretary Darwyn Sumner

122, Link Road, Anstey, Leicestershire LE7 7BX

Tel: 0116 212 5075 Email: [email protected] Coordinator Tom Hunt[Membership] Tel: 07972 131035 Email: [email protected]

Director & Mark WillsVice Chair North & East Yorkshire Ecological Data

Centre Tel: 01904 641631 Email: [email protected] Tim Corner Bristol Regional Environmental Records

Centre (BRERC) Third Floor, Bristol Central Library College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TL Tel: 0117 9349833 Email: [email protected] Craig SlawsonMembership Staffordshire Ecological Record The Wolseley Centre, Wolseley Bridge, Stafford, ST17 0WT Tel: 01889 880100 Email: [email protected] Teresa Frost Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Tullie House Museum, Castle Street, Carlisle. CA3

8TP Tel: 01228 618732 Email: [email protected] Aisling Carrick Cofnod Intec, Ffordd y Parc, Parc Menai, Bangor, Gwynedd. LL57 4FG Tel: (01248) 672603 Email: [email protected] Simon Wood Worcestershire Biological Records Centre Lower Smite Farm, Hindlip, Worcester, WR3 8SZ Tel: 01905 759759 Email: [email protected] Mandy Rudd Greenspace Information for Greater London

(GIGL) Tel: 020 7803 4278 c/o London Wildlife Trust, Skyline House, 200 Union

Street, London SE1 0LX Email: [email protected] Martin Horlock Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service R301 County Hall, Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2SG Tel: 01603 224458 Mob: 07770 303286 [email protected] Adam Rowe Manager, South East Wales Biodiversity Records

Centre (SEWBReC) 13 St. Andrew’s Crescent, Cardiff, CF10 3DB. Tel: 029 2064 1110 Email: [email protected]

Guest Ian EgertonGuest Mark PollittGuest Steve Hannah

ALERC Minutes 21 3

Community Interest Company: Incorporation number 06951023 2nd July 2009Registered Office: c/o rECOrd, Cedar House, Chester Zoological Gardens, Upton, Chester, Cheshire CH2 1LH

Website www.ALERC.org.uk. Forum: http://forum.lrcs.org.uk

Meeting of Directors10:30a.m. to 4:00p.m. Wednesday 29th January 2014, Offices of EcoRecord

16, Greenfield Crescent, Edgbaston, Birmingham. B15 3AU

AGENDAApologies & introductions1. Apologies were received from Craig Slawson, Tom Hunt & Mark Wills.Recently elected Directors (all of whom were present) were asked to ensure they gave Company Secretary personal details - includes date of birth and home address for Company House.

Ian Egerton Company House details 1. Mark Pollitt Company House details2.

Steve Hannah Company House details3. Minutes of 182. th MeetingMinutes for the 18th Meeting were sent out on 20/1/14 along with a number of documents that had been circulating at the time. The following action points are from 3 previous meetings.

Action points from Meeting 177. NC asked for a basic Accreditation tick sheet to be circulated (via subgroup)10. TH to check this issue with NE and Wildlife Link (GL had proposed applying for the 12 month variable rate to determine if there was any benefit)) (NC was to do this, to pay and join - this has been done)12. MW, EF & TH to address Website Home Page design, incorporating map and fixing twitter feed etc. (Report is in prepa-ration) (ongoing)13. How best to promote the desirability of Accreditation - All deferred)15. ALERC article(s) to be written and targetted - TH (and others?) ongoing)Action points from Meeting 181. All Directors responsible for Regions to ensure ALERC is on their agendas ongoing)2. All to keep tabs on how happy each Directors employers are at the paying of expenses to attend ALERC meetings (NC is still collating feedback from this exercise)3. All - the general topic of profile raising and perception in NSSs and other organistations Working group - Publicity)4. GL to send DS an additional report on the ANC (completed)5. TH to ask for results of feedback to NE from LRCs in respect of their MoAs (ongoing)6. All: to set up Accreditation subgroup (completed)7. TH: NC wants to see a list of LRCS scheduled for Accreditation (ongoing)8. MW & TH to put Director’s roles on ALERC website (completed)9. DS to organise Doodle for next meeting (see EGM) (completed)Action points from Meeting 19 (Extraordinary General Meeting)1. DS to circulate Working Groups recruitment sheets (completed)2. GL will continue to negotiate with Defra over the continued funding of the ANC post3. See Portfolio “Resources” regarding the seeking of continued funding for ANC post4. MR - corporate membership concept to be expanded upon in future ALERC meetings5. MW to tweak and recirculate (completed)6. DS to amend Registered Address on Companies House website (completed by NC)7. DS to amend Director’s details on Companies House website (ongoing)8. DS to initiate a Doodle for next General Meeting #21 (Late January to early February) completed

Please note that items not marked as resolved or discharged will recur on future Agendas

Association of Local Environmental Records Centres

ALERC Minutes 21 4


Matters arising 3. Note that the EGM decisions have priority.DS was asked for the AGM Minutes

AGM Minutes (DS)4. Guest speakerSteve Wilkinson: NBN VisionSteve had been invited to speak to Directors at our meeting as a result of a joint JNCC/CEH paper (authored by Steve Wilkinson) termed Technical Strategy paper (TTE13-03 Paper 6) and entitled A focussed vision for biodiversity data mobilisation initially circulated at an NBN meeting (attended by Teresa Frost) and later circulated more widely.BackgroundThe presentation to the NBN board was summarised by them as follows:

It currently takes around 2 years for data to get from the recorder to the user (via the Gateway)1. The new vision suggests the use of on line recording to automatically input data (already validated) into the 2. Gateway.There could then be other online systems like iRecord which are set up and feed data into the NBN Gate-3. way.There will always be those independent on line recording systems like BirdTrack – BTO and this is right.4. LRC’s view is that improving on speed would be a good thing. However, to get data onto the Gateway doesn’t 5. have to be by the proposed model. There are other channels for gathering data – how do these feed in?Funding may be withdrawn for Recorder 6 but this tool can be used and improved by anyone as there are no 6. restrictions. Recorder is important to museums, local record centers and volunteer recorders.There are support and management issues with Recorder 6 which has led to JNCC reviewing its support 7. for the softwareA centralised system is costly but also robust and safer than having lots of independent small databases. 8. This would result in better data flow.There is a need to know who owns the central pot of data to ensure it is safely managed.9. The technology strategy will not be discussed at the next workshop planned for January or February, but 10. should be shared with those who need to be involved.

Responses from the recording community:(not sure if there’s anything to place here)Presentation and discussionSteve gave a brief introduction, telling us that JNCC had invested in desktop systems ove the past 15 years but now want to rebalance resources with a shift focussing on online systems. Much of the material presented by Steve was actually contained within his paper (above) and the NBN board comments, ALERC Directors therefore took the opportunity to present comments, observations, concerns and proposed actions to Steve within this meeting.as follows:1. NC observed that data flow within an LRC is high speed due to their use of Recorder 6, the signicicance of this fact needs to be recognised in terms of R6s capacity to help deliver such services essential to an LRC.2. Many end-users (especially Local Agencies) are not making full use of online systems (e.g. NBNG) and are asking LRCs for information - as they provide a better product.3. DS offerred an NSS perspective, commenting that whilst their data flows were considerably slower Than thos of an LRC they had a need for a range of desktop tools (for purposes which may differ from an LRC) and that Recorder 6 was an essential item in that suite.4. AR offerred a perspective on the relative position that NBNG held within the set of tools that a user weilds. It is not necessarily the case that NBNG was the primary source, that it “shouldn’t be the cutting edge delivery method”, SW added the comment that LRCS provided enquirers with a “full service” that NBNG could not

ALERC Minutes 21 5



provide, citing examples such as leaflets containing valuable local information5. MH raised the issue of data quality and verification and tha part that LRCs played in local and national networks that ensured high quality data was made available

Steve undertook to take back ALERC’s comments, observations and concerns to JNCC with a view to at-tempting to modify their approach to some extent in the light of

This was followed by a debate about the forthcoming NBN EGM and our part in it in respect of representa-tion versus “rubber-stamping”, Tom Hunt was due to give a presentation there and 3 ALERC Directors were also due to be present

Officers Reports4. Chair• Treasurer/Membership• NC spoke of the handing over of these tasks to EF and TH, she thanked Mark and Eric for their efforts in this regard.

ALERC National Coordinator (Line manager’s report ER/MW)• Funding: interim Defra + ALERC arrangement, thoughts on any other funding streamsThere was some discussion regarding this in the paper which was sent out with the meeting notification, the ANC post is safe for the next 6 months, mention was made of projects that might possibly relate to ANC work, one NERC project and one de-velopment of a screening tool for Biodiversity Offsetting, both projects managed by Bill Butcher.Updated Work Plan 2013/14 (previously sent out in August and recirculated by AC on 20/1/2014)2014/15 Work PlanBoth the above were addressed by the ANC Work Plan circulated with the meeting notificationIt was noted that there had been a broader emphasis on the UK to date, EF remarked that whilst the document was intended to reflect users’ needs it did not reflect all of Tom’s work. NC asked for a specific Scotland and Wales box (see document)

EF to discuss the needs of Scotland and Wales in respect of ANC post with Defra5. Esmee Fairburn was mentioned as another potential funding sourceAccreditation update from THSummarised in the ANC Work Plan

Issues for discussion and resolution5. General issuesa. Director’s portfolios• DS had provided a summary of the Portfolios with the meeting notification, discussion in the meeting gave rise to an amended list (attached)NE/EA MoAs for 2014/15• Whilst there had been much email debate prior to the meeting and a good deal of informal exchange of ideas during the meet-ing there was nothing conclusive to report or action except:Structured surveillance updateThese were included in the last MoA, a variety of responses and outcomes were shared during the meeting, “a shocking waste of public funds” was a comment from outsiders made to some LRCs

ALERC Minutes 21 6


Accreditation b. Other accreditation matters• See ANC report above

Work programmec. Development of Work Plan for 2014/15, a 5 year vision• AC had produced the latest Work Plan which was pretty well up to date at the time of the meeting, one or two minor amend-ments were suggested during the meeting

AC to update and circulate Work Plan6. Achievements update (• valuable for website, publicity, Companies House report and a general sense of feeling

good about ourselves)DS to update Achievements list (acknowledged that this is becoming more complex as 7.

time goes by so help from TH will be invaluable)Website & publicity d. Noted that on Map on website, Orkneys were absent, this has now been fixed• “Find an LRC” Map initiative •

TH ongoing “Find an LRC” work8. Inspire - ALERC Guidance•

TH ongoing debate re Inspire, production of ALERC guidance required9. Conferencee. Report on the last one has been receivedDate for the next one, working group

EF to discuss with TH10. Regionsf. Updates from the regions: Scotland, Wales, English regions• Scotland: SBIF might not get funding from SNH beyond March

EF to ask ANC to contact SBIF and interested parties to determine if ALERC can help 11. in any way

Wales: there is uncertainty regarding NRW funding and consequently a move to form a legal consortium of LRCs to help facilitate negotiationsLondon: GIGL is working on a Wildlife Crime initiative - working with various bodies

NBNg. Strategy workshop• nothing to report yet

NFBRh. • What’s the latest? (CS absent, MR stepped down) nothing to report

Working group categories: new initiatives and quick reportsi. The following are categories only, specific working groups, initiatives and publications can be placed within these categories, please just treat them as an aid to filing:A Data managementB TrainingC AccreditationD CommunicationE Business Business Development Group An initiative by MR distributed as an overview document prior to this meeting

Group to develop and bring revised paper to the next meeting12. Company work (j. MANDATORY)Directors’ roles•New Directors (full details needed for CH website)

ALERC Minutes 21 7



DS to update on CH website13. New registered office - this is now registered with CHFinancial Returns•The following is a reminder:Timeline: Year 2013/4 ends March 31st 2014. Then Treasurer has to sort out financial statement and chase auditor, 9 months to get this done or we get fined but it can be sent in earlier.Annual Returns•Timeline: this is just the same and DS does it (not Treasurer) and gets it in by July 31st.

Any Other Business6. Topics not submitted in time for inclusion in the Agenda are deprecated

Date(s) of next meeting(s)7. Late May 2014

DS to organise Doodle for next meeting ( )14.

ALERC Minutes 21 8


PortfoliosThe following is based on the email sent by Mark Wills on 10/10/2013. Mark has full details in a spreadsheet and Mandy produced a spreadsheet “ALERCBoardRoles_2013” on 20/9/13 which presumably formed the basis of Mark’s spreadsheet.

Officer Portfolio Portfolio Holder Agenda Document & notes Report y/nChair of Board of Directors Nicky Court 4 ALERC Chair Role Description_v2.1 YVice Chair of Board of Directors Mark Wills (4) ALERC Vice-Chair Role Description_v2.1 YALERC Treasurer Eric Fletcher 4/5j YALERC Company Secretary Darwyn Sumner 4/5j/7 Y

Director Portfolio Portfolio HolderMembership & recruitment Craig Slawson 4 ALERC Director Role Description_v2.1 NANC Work Management Eric Fletcher 4 discussed in meeting #21ANC Hosting/Line management Mark Wills 4NBNT Liaison Teresa Frost 5gNSS Data flows (Liaison) Aisling Carrick 5i (5iA) YAccreditation Mark Wills 5b (5iC) see report formatWebsite/ALERC Forum Mark Wills 5d (5iD)Business Development Mandy Rudd 5c (5iE) ALERCBusinessDevelopmentGroupOverviewV2 YALERC Work Plan Aisling Carrick 5c (5iE) ALERC Work Plan V1 3 print version YPublicity Darwyn Sumner 5d (5iD) (joint NSS/ALERC survey)

General Enquiries Tim Corner 5d? Tim tells us he gets thanks from enquirers

Conference Mark Wills 5e (5iB) 2013 Feedback summary

Data Management & systems Martin Horlock 5d? (5iA)Consultation response Nicky Court 5a (5iE)Resources Nicky Court 4ALERC internal Processes Mark Wills 5j (5iE)Communications Ian Egerton 5d? (5iD) Newsletter?

Regions Portfolio HolderEast of England Martin Horlock 5f (Map by DS)

South East England Mandy Rudd 5fSouth West England Tim Corner 5fEast Midlands Martin Horlock 5fWest Midlands Craig Slawson 5fNorth East England Mark Wills 5fNorth West England Eric Fletcher 5fWales Adam Rowe 5fScotland Steve Hannah 5f

Documents

21 Website . Forum: 3. Steve Hannah Company House details 2. Minutes of 18th Meeting Minutes for the 18th Meeting were sent out on 20/1/14 along with a number of documents that had