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Dear Susan Sollazzi,

We acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 29/05/2023.

This request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
/ Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 as appropriate to your
request.  

This may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).

Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.

Please retain the reference number RFI 013234 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many thanks

The Information Governance Team

Room 120, 1^st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

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This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

Dear Susan Sollazzi

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004

Further to your request for information received on 29 May 2023. The
Council has assessed if your request should be handled under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 request and concluded that it should be dealt with
under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), which is the
legislation that applies to requests for information which relate to the
environment, including the use of land and the built environment        

You requested
The government has issued guidance about the enhanced biodiversity duty
for public authorities (introduced by the Environment Act 2021), Complying
with the biodiversity duty, which states that Local Authorities must
"complete your first consideration of what action to take for biodiversity
by 1 January 2024. You must agree your policies and objectives as soon as
possible after this". Given the short timescale for this first
requirement, please can you confirm the following: - Who will be the
officer leading this work in your Authority? - How has the Authority been
preparing for this requirement? - What information will be used to
determine the baseline? - What is the programme of work to meet the
government's requirements expected to include? - How will communities be
engaged in the programme of work? - How will communities be kept informed
about progress?

Our response

1          Who will be the officer leading this work in your Authority?

Director of Place. This will also be supported externally by Greater
Manchester Ecology Unit (funded by the 10 Greater Manchester Districts) in
a number of respects.  GMEU is intending to recruit a Monitoring Officer
soon to monitor and report on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) implementation
and, in future, efforts to implement the Local Nature Recovery Strategy
(LNRS) across GM, both of which are linked to the duty.

2          How has the Authority been preparing for this requirement?

Bolton has been working closely with other GM districts in assisting GMEU,
Natural England and wildlife trusts in developing approaches to BNG and
supporting the piloting of the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Greater
Manchester.  The council is recruiting a greenspace officer within
Environmental Services who will play a significant role in the development
of biodiversity within the borough.

3          What information will be used to determine the baseline?

Much of the baseline information is available through Bolton’s ecological
advisers at GMEU.  GMEU monitors the condition of Sites of Biological
Importance and facilitates management of some SBIs. It can also provide
‘baseline’ biodiversity audits of Districts if needed, and monitors
species distributions and populations. City of Trees also already monitor
some habitat creation and enhancement, particularly for trees and
woodland.  Other information is available from Natural England,
Environment Agency and from the Greater Manchester Local Record Centre
(GMLRC) held by GMEU.

4          What is the programme of work to meet the government's
requirements expected to include?

The exact nature and programme are not established as yet.

5          How will communities be engaged in the programme of work?

Work on the LNRS development is also underway at a GM level, and this will
involve extensive consultation.  Further consideration will be given to
how to engage with the programme of work as this is established in more
detail.

6          How will communities be kept informed about progress?

The council will comply with requirements under the duty to publish
reports.  This is likely to be primarily using its website.  However, at
this stage the exact nature and process of doing so has yet to be
established.

Should you have any queries, please contact 
[1][email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Team

Chief Executive’s Department

1^st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

>>Corporate Logo<<
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

References

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