Norfolk
President’s Message
On Public Service Agreements
Tim O’Riordan
On Public Service Agreements
Tim O’Riordan
The existence and purpose of public service agreements are possibly unfamiliar to many CPRE members. PSAs, as they are generally known, are the equivalent of an Ofsted review for a school, when they are applied to the public sector. PSAs define targets and performance. If their provisions are not met then the relevant budget allowance for a targeted department is cut. So PSAs concentrate the departmental mind.
One PSA of long standing is that on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and on its “daughter” agencies, the Environment Agency and English Nature. This is that 85 percent of all sites of special scientific interest should be in favourable or recovering condition by 2010. For Norfolk, this is a major challenge as over 90 percent of wetland sites do not meet these conditions.
This is why both Agencies are being funded to look for replacement sites for wetlands being threatened by the sea, or from the addition of nutrients contained in household waste water (phosphates) and agricultural run-off (nitrates).
Natural England is working diligently with the Broads Authority and with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust to devise a multiple purpose landuse scheme to establish new wetlands in the Upper Thurne around Hickling. This could form the basis of a new freshwater complex that would (might) provide a basis for new water plant life in this much loved area.
A more demanding and exciting PSA is that to do with climate change and adaptation. This is the famous PSA 27. This may form the basis for carbon reduction targets for the whole public sector. And it may extend to greenhouse gasses more generally. This would add in methane removal from sewage treatment works and landfill, so bringing in the private sector.
Waiting in the wings under PSA 27 is whole catchment care. This would mean redesigning river catchments for reducing soil erosion, maintaining trees and plantlife so that they do not uproot and block drains and bridges, and provide new bogland and wetland for flood management. Under conditions of heavy rain, even a delay of one hour of heavy off-land flooding, would work wonders for property owners and the insurance industry.
So we may see whole new approaches to landuse planning with much more porosity in the soil and prohibitions on paving front gardens and soakaways. There is more to PSA 27 than meets the eye. We may see a day when the public and private sectors cooperate to create sustainable landuse in all landscapes, so we all benefit from a more prepared approach to the inevitable hazard of climate change, to which we are all a contributing party.
One PSA of long standing is that on the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and on its “daughter” agencies, the Environment Agency and English Nature. This is that 85 percent of all sites of special scientific interest should be in favourable or recovering condition by 2010. For Norfolk, this is a major challenge as over 90 percent of wetland sites do not meet these conditions.
This is why both Agencies are being funded to look for replacement sites for wetlands being threatened by the sea, or from the addition of nutrients contained in household waste water (phosphates) and agricultural run-
Natural England is working diligently with the Broads Authority and with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust to devise a multiple purpose landuse scheme to establish new wetlands in the Upper Thurne around Hickling. This could form the basis of a new freshwater complex that would (might) provide a basis for new water plant life in this much loved area.
A more demanding and exciting PSA is that to do with climate change and adaptation. This is the famous PSA 27. This may form the basis for carbon reduction targets for the whole public sector. And it may extend to greenhouse gasses more generally. This would add in methane removal from sewage treatment works and landfill, so bringing in the private sector.
Waiting in the wings under PSA 27 is whole catchment care. This would mean redesigning river catchments for reducing soil erosion, maintaining trees and plantlife so that they do not uproot and block drains and bridges, and provide new bogland and wetland for flood management. Under conditions of heavy rain, even a delay of one hour of heavy off-
So we may see whole new approaches to landuse planning with much more porosity in the soil and prohibitions on paving front gardens and soakaways. There is more to PSA 27 than meets the eye. We may see a day when the public and private sectors cooperate to create sustainable landuse in all landscapes, so we all benefit from a more prepared approach to the inevitable hazard of climate change, to which we are all a contributing party.
