February Already…

February 8, 2010

Well Monday was the first of February, but I wasn’t working I was partaking in another country pursuit which had it’s final day of the season, and going out on that day is traditional!!

Tuesday we put our advert for a part time administrator into the paper and emailed it to our contacts, we’ve had a lot of interest already but if you are interested then please give us a call for details (01200 444 452). I also had to get on with the passport scheme which is now nearly ready to launch, but the season on our beat doesn’t open until may.

Wednesday we went to a meeting at the Forest of Bowland AONB offices at Dunsop. The meeting was to discuss and propose locations for Hydro electric power developments. It is an AONB project where they will do first phase preliminary surveys at 50 sites, then a second stage more details survey and feasibility study at 5 of those sites. The information is then provided to a land owner to take forward. There were many proposals put forward, and what was great was the the Project Officer was very keen to get our input and take things on board. We were able to actually state that many of the sites no longer existed, and explain the potential problems that hydro schemes present fish and bio diversity. Which meant that many of the sites were unfeasible. However we were able to say where a scheme would be viable or where a scheme could incorporate a fish pass. A useful morning. It was interesting to speak to an advisor on the subject of green energy and she confirmed much of what I had been learning, that there is no grant pot as such for these Hydro electricity schemes, Perhaps if they are done in combination with something there maybe but her experience to date was that they were all being paid for by commercial loans, or community purchasing.

I spent the afternoon working on the project issues from Barrowford 3 and Swanside fish easement, hopefully getting towards some resolution.

Thursday was a long day of working on the passport scheme, and making a visit to one of the beats to check on parking places. We also had the first of the enquiries about the Job Vacancy.

Friday we met on site with various representatives from the EA to discuss the various proposals for Barrowford 3. It was a very useful meeting and we have now worked through the EA side of things (although we still need a land drainage consent), so next it’s onto consulting with stake holders and land owners.

We also spoke to the EA regarding Padiham weir and the works there, things seem to progressing and it seems that it will finally happen!

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