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Threat to CEH Centres 

Closure of Monks Wood and other CEH Centres

The National Federation for Biological Recording (NFBR) is concerned to learn of the intent by NERC to close a number of CEH centres. This includes world-reknowned Monks Wood, home of the Biological Records Centre which hosts much of the work of the National Biodiversity Network, including the NBN Gateway. Five out of nine sites would close, with 200 out of 600 staff made redundant. Details at: www.nerc.ac.uk/secretariat-council/ceh/

The deadline for comments passed on 15th February 2006 (www.nerc.ac.uk/consult/ceh/ )
The NFBR Council submitted a response, lobbied Minisiters, but also urged all its members to make their views known.
We will keep you informed of further developments as they happen.

We are alarmed that many of CEH's skilled staff will be lost. Some may be offered relocation but many will be unable to accept due to significant house price differences or other personal reasons. The loss of skilled staff, the disruption to the biological recording network and the apparent lack of committment by the Government to biodiversity and climate change research is of great concern to the NFBR.

You can also make you comments known by contacting one or more of the following:

• NERC Chairman, Mr Rob Margetts, CEH consultation, NERC, Polaris House, Swindon, SN2 1EU.
• consider lobbying Lord Sainsbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science & Innovation, Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET.  Tel: (Enquiry Unit of the DTI) 020 7215 5000, email: enquiries@dti.gsi.gov.uk
• Jim Knight MP, Minister for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity, House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.  Email address: jimknightmp@parliament.uk

The text of the NFBR's response is shown below. It was sent to:
Lord Sainsbury (DTI, 1 Victoria St. London SW1 0ET)
Rt. Hon. Alan Johnson M.P. (Ditto)
Rt. Hon. Margaret Beckett M.P. (Defra, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR)
Rt. Hon Jim Knight M.P. (Ditto)
Please feel free to copy any letters you may send to: Charles Copp, NFBR Chairman

Dear . . . .

NERC Council Statement of Intent re Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

The Council of the National Federation for Biological Recording (NFBR) wishes to express its great concern and disquiet at the proposed closure of four research stations maintained by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). The sites in question are among the foremost biodiversity-related research and data-holding sites in the UK.

The NFBR is especially concerned about the impact of the proposed re-organisation of the CEH on the research stations at Monks Wood, Winfrith, Banchory and Oxford, and on the long-standing monitoring operations that they have developed in different areas. The closures are likely to adverseley affect the world-renowned Biological Records Centre, currently based at CEH Monks Wood, and through this, the continued ability of local and voluntary sector biodiversity organisations to maintain their effective and integrated contribution to UK wildlife surveillance. The longer-term survival and development of the UK National Biodiversity Network, which is mobilising a wide diversity of wildlife data to be made use of in environmental management and policy making, may also be jeopardised.

Although the CEH has intimated that it intends to maintain and even potentially to increase some of the activities of the four research stations, the proposed closures seem to take little cognisance of the very likely impact on current work through the loss of both key staff and infrastructure.

Most of the sites being proposed for closure are in areas with relatively low costs of living. Most of the scientific staff in these stations are unlikely to be in a financial and personal position to move to the main projected site for biodiversity-related work at Wallingford.  Although the CEH Plan quotes a predicted loss of 30% of posts, we understand that the Centre's own management have apparently considered internally that up to 50% of staff would be lost through the site closures.   The recent experience of Scottish Natural Heritage, in a similar move of its operation from Edinburgh to Inverness, has been that some 85% of its staff have been unable to move, with a concomitant, disastrous loss of the organisation's expertise, capability and effectiveness.  If similar losses were to be incurred by CEH, the effects on UK biodiversity research would be catastrophic. Inevitably, the scientific respect and credibility of the CEH, both nationally and internationally, would be damaged, which is unlikely to reflect well on NERC or the UK Government.

The NFBR strongly urges Ministers and others to ensure that NERC's Statement of Intent regarding CEH is called in to be re-considered very carefully. Quite apart from the potential damage to the UK's scientific credibility if these closures and their consequences are allowed to go ahead, the suggested financial benefits of the proposed restructuring appear to be deeply flawed.

Furthermore, the NFBR proposes that the necessary resources should be supplied to maintain at least existing levels of support for the UK's ongoing biodiversity surveillance without this unnecessary and ill-conceived disruption. At a time when climate change, loss of species and increasing damage to and loss of natural habitats and systems is increasing world-wide, it would seem perverse to jeopardise this country's ability to respond to these challenges.

Yours sincerely

Charles Copp
Chairman National Federation for Biological Recording
 

enc./ Further details are attached for your information

NFBR comments relating to the proposed CEH closures
The NFBR was formed in 1986 to promote effective and scientifically reliable biological recording – the surveying and monitoring of the UK's biodiversity and natural wildlife habitats. NFBR helps to support the networks of organisations and individuals involved in this work, and has been central to the promotion of methods and standards, as well as to the development of policy in this area.

Potential threats to partnerships with NGOs
The CEH, since its inauguration, has had responsibility for most of the key UK institutions involved in applied research into the natural environment supported by various forms of governmental funding. In particular, the work of the CEH underpins some of the principal infrastructure used in partnership with key NGOs. A diverse range of local and voluntary organisations involved in wildlife surveys and monitoring interact directly with the CEH. This interaction has resulted in vast resources of data used by Government (nationally, regionally and locally) in developing, implementing and assessing the effectiveness of policies affecting biodiversity and the natural environment in the UK.

Because of the nature of our members' work, the Council of NFBR knows from long experience that benefits to the UK biological recording network come from the specific skills of individuals, and the trust and relationships built up between these private data providers and key staff at CEH, such as at Monks Wood and Winfrith. We feel this trust and these relationships are about to be destroyed or, at best, be severely damaged.

The NFBR is especially concerned about the impact of the proposed re-organisation of the CEH on the wider community involved with biological recording, and, with it, the UK's ability to continue to record and monitor its natural environment. We consider that the ability of the UK Government to respond to national and international legislation, convention and obligations will be severely compromised as a result of some of the proposed restructuring of the CEH, because it will jeopardise essential flows of data.

Main areas of concern
The impact of the proposed closure of the main biodiversity-related research stations at Monks Wood, Winfrith, Banchory and Oxford, and on the long-standing monitoring operations that they have developed in different areas.

• The potential impact on the Biological Records Centre, based at CEH Monks Wood, and through this, on the continued ability of local and voluntary sector biodiversity organisations to maintain their effective and integrated contribution to UK wildlife surveillance.
• The longer-term survival and development of the National Biodiversity Network, which has begun to enable data from a wide diversity of sources to be made use of in environmental management and policy making.

Although the CEH has intimated that it is intended to maintain and even potentially to increase some of these activities, the proposed closures seem to have taken little cognisance of the very likely impact on current work through the loss of both key staff and infrastructure.

Effects on long-term surveillance of biodiversity
The CEH Business Plan proposes the closure of virtually all the main biodiversity-related sites in the UK. These sites support research programmes related specifically to the areas in which they operate. Many of these long-term surveillance programmes are likely therefore to suffer, and the Business Plan makes no mention of how the CEH will be able to maintain these in the face of major loss of key staff and field locations. Many of these long-term surveillance projects are already feeding into governmental decision making and others could do so in future. All these projects are well known for the production of many high-quality scientific publications and for the interpretation of this science to a wider public.

Probable impact on the Biological Records Centre
With regard to the Biological Records Centre, which the CEH Business Plan regards as a high priority for retention, it is considered likely that all but one or two of the current staff at the Centre will not want to move to Wallingford.   Loss of continuity of expertise, not to mention the disruption to long-term relationships with outside data suppliers, is likely to be severely damaging, even if the physical infrastructure of the Centre could be transferred satisfactorily. 

Probable impact on the National Biodiversity Network
Finally, as regards the National Biodiversity Network, of which the NFBR was a prime mover and a founding partner, this relies very heavily on both the continued supply of data through the BRC, as well as on a very small group of expert technical staff for its maintenance, all of whom are likely not to want to move from Monks Wood to Wallingford.   The potential disruption to the NBN and its internet Gateway's supply of data if this were to happen could be disastrous, and would severely affect its long-term survival.   In particular it would damage confidence in its capabilities and in its business use by third parties, such as local authorities and statutory and voluntary conservation bodies that has been built up over the last five years. This will also reflect adversely on the commitment that governmental agencies, in particularly Defra, have made to the development of NBN and its Gateway, supplying open access to biodiversity data. The NBN Gateway system is seen internationally as an aspirational model for many other countries.

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