Countryside Management Association News

The founder of The Institute for Earth Education - Steve Van Matre - is touring the UK this autumn 2008 delivering a variety of workshops in his renowned style. If you haven't encountered this charismatic figure before, now's your chance!

For more information please go to http://www.eartheducation.org.uk/

Chris Smith

Officers such as park and community wardens could be given the power to issue fixed-penalty notices and on-the-spot fines.

And councils could be freed to ’set, sign and sanction’ their own local laws.

A study by the Home Office highlighted the increased use of council staff as a way of tackling low-level crime and freeing up police teams to focus on more serious offenders.

Chief constables are also looking at alternatives such as council security staff to handle complex community problems where using police resources could be seen as excessive.

The initiative was floated as an idea in an audit into the use of council staff and private sector security firms since they were given extra powers in 2002.

The study said: ‘They are an extra pair of eyes and ears and if tasked properly they will get results, because unlike police officers who can get diverted, they are usually on the street for seven hours engaging with the community.’

Currently council wardens and other non-police staff can are limited to confiscating alcohol from under-16s and requesting a name and address.

A review of their powers is under way and senior police officers are looking at giving them the power to issue fixed penalty notices for a far wider range of offences, including disorder.

It came as the Department for Communities and Local Government issued a consultation on plans to increase local authority power to set their own byelaws to tackle issues linked with community safety and nuisance behaviour.

Communities secretary Hazel Blears said: ’Communities, who know their areas’ hotspots and problems, are best placed to identify and find solutions to the practical issues that matter to them. For the first time councils could now be able to “set, sign and now sanction” local laws without central government approval. This will make it easier to tackle problems, cut red tape, improving the wellbeing of their area and devolve more power to local people.’

- Mitigation: Smoke and Mirrors or Biodiversity Enhancement?
Glasgow
http://www.ieem.net/confieemautumn2008.asp

A great deal has happened since the last update, with The Thin Green Line Foundation gaining further support and exposure thanks to many good friends, sponsors and supporters.

The last six months has seen The Thin Green Line in the spotlight at large music festivals and at the Sydney Opera House. The Thin Green Line Foundation has also been invited to present in California, Spain and Portugal and, importantly, deliver on its promise to pay widows of rangers killed in Uganda as well as meet and organise projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo – with more than 150 widows there … and much, much more work still to be done…

For more articles and updates from The Thin Green Line please follow the following link

www.thingreenline.info

On 22 July 2008 the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee issued a report following its pre-legislative scrutiny of the coastal access provisions contained in the draft Marine Bill.
The report entitled Draft Marine Bill: Coastal Access Provisions has been published on the Parliamentary website and can be read and downloaded at the following address together with a copy of the written and oral evidence presented to the Committee: www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/environment__food_and_rural_affairs/efra_draft_marine_bill.cfm
The Government will respond to the report after carefully considering the recommendations made in the report.
The draft Marine Bill (including the coastal access proposals) was also scrutinised by a Joint Committee made up of members from both Houses. The Joint Committee’s report is expected to be published at the end of July and will be available to view on the Parliamentary website at:
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/parliamentary_committees36.cfm
If you have any queries on the above please telephone 0117 372 8449 or email our coastal access email address: Coastal.access@defra.gsi.gov.uk