Implementation and monitoring

Implementation

Delivery of the Plan is the responsibility of the Council as a whole, however coordination and reporting is undertaken by the Council’s Countryside and Wildlife Team, with a dedicated Ecologist (Plans & Projects) in place to oversee this function.

The C&WT works closely with other departments to deliver the requirements of the Plan, and ultimately compliance with the Ecosystems and Resilience Duty.

The Biodiversity Duty Actions (as detailed in Sct. 7) of the Plan set out specifically what the Authority intends to do to meet its legal requirements of the biodiversity and ecosystem resilience duty. In accordance with Welsh Government guidance on reporting, the actions of the Plan have been drawn up in line with the NRAP objectives. The actions allocated to Local Authorities in the NRAP are also incorporated into this plan.

The actions are organised into the most appropriate NRAP Objective. As actions often deliver against more than one objective, all objectives relevant to that action are highlighted below the milestones. The reporting mechanisms and the next 3 year milestones are also set out against each action.

Where there are fundamental changes to terminology, or advancements in our understanding of ecosystems, this plan may be updated to reflect those changes at any time.

Monitoring and reporting

A report on progress against the plan was produced in 2020, for the period from December 2017 to end of March 2020 (Years 1 and 2). This report, titled the Implementation Report, is available to view on the Council’s website.

Monitoring of the Plan will continue to be undertaken by the Countryside and Wildlife Team, aligning with financial years and allowing us to monitor actions in line with grant funding. Monitoring will be carried out to the following timetable:

Year 3 = April 2020– March 2021

Year 4 = April 2021 – March 2022

Year 5 = April 2022 - March 2023 etc.

Delivery of the Plan will be reported as an Implementation Report every 3 years, in line with the requirements of the Environment Wales Act. The implementation report will be undertaken by early September in any reporting year to allow sufficient time to follow the committee process aiming for the report to be taken to Cabinet and Full Council towards the end of October. Reporting will be for monitoring Years 3-5 at the end of 2023.

The Implementation Report, alongside the most up to date Plan, will be made publicly available on the Council website.

The preceding plan will remain in force until the new one is formally agreed.

Delivery of the Plan is also integrated into the Council’s Corporate Plan, with key outcomes reported as part of the Corporate Plan’s monitoring and reporting process. This includes a key performance indicator for the extent of council owned land being managed for biodiversity. Progress reports are published on a quarterly and annual basis.