Appendix 1
Perth and Kinross Council · 24 August 2022
Back to Climate Change and Sustainability Committee — 24 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ www.gov.scot Environment and Forestry Directorate Natural Resources Division E: cate.turton@gov.scot Mr Thomas Glen Chief Executive Perth and Kinross Council 2 High Street PERTH PH1 5PH tglen@pkc.gov.uk ___ 26 May 2022 Dear Mr Glen, ALLOCATION OF THE ‘EDINBURGH PROCESS’ STRAND OF THE NATURE RESTORATION FUND I am writing to inform you that the Scottish Government and Local Authority Leaders have reached an agreement on the proportion of this year’s allocation of the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) to Scottish Local Authorities, known as the Edinburgh Process strand of the NRF. This constitutes £5 million of capital funding to be spent in 2022-23 to support new, or to enhance existing, approaches to restoring biodiversity. The NRF was originally announced as part of the Scottish Government’s 2021-22 budget - providing additional funding to support a wide range of projects that will deliver nature restoration, safeguard wildlife and tackle the causes of biodiversity loss especially climate change. The purpose of the NRF remains: ‘nature restoration and improving biodiversity on land and in the seas’. This year there is an increased focus on outcomes which address the main drivers of the decline in biodiversity – that is to say, on land, over-exploitation of the natural environment and addressing its consequences, habitat loss and fragmentation, and invasive non-native species – particularly in rural biodiversity. To deliver the purpose, this year the Fund has four strategic themes that will be delivered across all the funding streams: Habitat restoration – management for enhancement and connectivity Freshwater restoration, including hydrological change Eradication of invasive non-native species impacting on nature Coastal and marine management to promote restoration and resilience APPENDIX 1
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Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ www.gov.scot The NRF does not exclude projects from urban and peri-urban areas which can be shown to address its purpose and strategic themes. The Scottish Government’s draft Local Development Plan guidance (para 459) sets out that ecological connectivity is provided by wildlife sites, corridors, and stepping stones, landscape features, watercourses, green and blue spaces that together form integrated nature networks. The £5 million capital funding allocated to Local Authorities is to support new, or to enhance existing, approaches that further biodiversity and which adhere to the following criteria: deliver positive effects for biodiversity and enhance local ecosystems address the climate emergency and its impacts through mitigation and adaptation and by promoting nature based solutions Capital items that could form that basis for spend may include, but are not limited to: Action for pollinators (equipment for maintaining wildflower areas/verges plus planting) Improving condition and use of LNRs (purchase and planting, equipment for outdoor learning, small access improvements) Developing a local nature network through planting of wildlife corridors, removal of barriers to movement, pollinator planting Greening Active travel routes (purchase and planting) Natural flood management actions such as connecting rivers with flood plains, pond creation, deculverting, in-stream works for habitat and flow variability Removal of INNS to improve the biodiversity value of the remaining habitat Habitat and species enhancement works using native stock, enhancing natural coastal defences through marram, addressing coastal squeeze. The Edinburgh Process strand is a semi-competitive fund. All Local Authorities, plus the National Parks, will receive a capital allocation directly from Scottish Government. The total value of the allocation to Local Authorities is £5m in 2022-2023 (as in 2021-2022). Given the strategic themes and the priority of ecological connectivity, the distribution methodology this year is based on: 50% on ‘area of natural greenspace’ and 50% on NatureScot composite indicator. The allocation of funds for Perth & Kinross Council in 2022-23, which will be paid as General Capital Grant on 15 July, is £0.176 Million rounded. A full list of individual local authority allocations is included at Annex A. A further £1m has been allocated this year to the Edinburgh Process strand and applications for additional funds can be made to NatureScot. The application will be open to Local Authorities planning to undertake a single project larger in scale than their allocation. Applications should be sent to: NRF@nature.scot by the end of June. This will assist in the Nature Restoration Fund aim of supporting transformational change at scale. The successful projects will be notified by NatureScot with the additional capital transferred from Scottish Government.
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Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ www.gov.scot As with the NRF in 2021-22, Local Authorities will be required to complete and return a short form to the Biodiversity Unit at the Scottish Government within a year of the allocation of funding. I would like to thank you all for your co-operation on this matter and would be most grateful if you could pass a copy of this letter onto any persons that would be responsible for administering the NRF in your local authority. Yours sincerely, Cate Turton Deputy Director, Natural Resources Division
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Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ www.gov.scot Annex A NATURE RESTORATION FUND – EDINBURGH PROCESS STRAND – 2022-23 Rounded Allocation (£m) Aberdeen City 0.135 Aberdeenshire 0.213 Angus 0.150 Argyll & Bute 0.238 Clackmannanshire 0.091 Dumfries & Galloway 0.257 Dundee City 0.086 East Ayrshire 0.102 East Dunbartonshire 0.132 East Lothian 0.110 East Renfrewshire 0.061 Edinburgh, City of 0.161 Eilean Siar 0.124 Falkirk 0.179 Fife 0.378 Glasgow City 0.132 Highland 0.328 Inverclyde 0.160 Midlothian 0.103 Moray 0.124 North Ayrshire 0.190 North Lanarkshire 0.274 Orkney 0.054 Perth & Kinross 0.176 Renfrewshire 0.102 Scottish Borders 0.161 Shetland 0.079 South Ayrshire 0.096 South Lanarkshire 0.188 Stirling 0.114 West Dunbartonshire 0.126 West Lothian 0.176 TOTAL 5.000