NFNPA RPC 195/13 NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY ...€¦ · The CPRE Tranquillity mapping has been cut to the National Park boundary; site verification work can now start in summer

Resource, Audit and Performance Committee Meeting

10 June 2013

Year End Progress Report on the 2012-13 Operational Plan

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NFNPA RPC 195/13 NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY RESOURCES, AUDIT AND PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE MEETING – 10 JUNE 2013 YEAR END PROGRESS REPORT ON THE 2012-13 OPERATIONAL PLAN Report by: Programme Pursuit Officers (Paula Freeland, Nigel Matthews, Hilary

Makin & Paul Hocking) and Nigel Stone, Performance and Finance Manager

1 Purpose:

1.1 To present:

An overview of the Authority’s performance in 2012-13;

Progress against the 2012-13 Operational Plan objectives at the full year point; and

Progress against local and national performance indicators for year ending 31 March 2013.

2 Recommendation: 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee note the contents of the report and,

following discussion, agree any necessary management action

Papers: NFNPA/RAPC 195/13 Cover paper NFNPA/RAPC 195/13 Annex 1: Final Progress Report 2012-13

Contact:

Oliver Reichardt Director of Delivery and Performance Tel: 01590 646631


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NFNPA RPC 195/13

Annex 1

Year-End Progress Report on the 2012-13 Operational Plan

April 2012 – March 2013


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OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The National Park Authority was established in April 2005 and took on its full statutory powers and responsibilities in April 2006. The Authority will champion the New Forest National Park, working in partnership through co-ordinated and innovative policies and actions, focusing on achieving the two National Park purposes to: conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of

the National Park;

promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the National Park by the public.

National Park Authorities also have a duty, in taking the purposes forward, to:

seek to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities within the National Park.

2012-2013 Objectives We will work towards achieving the Vision for the Park through four main programmes of work that reflect the National Park purposes and duty. These programmes and their outcomes, set out below, will provide the focus for all our future work and will ensure that there are clear and common goals across the organisation. Protect

We will work to ensure that the qualities that make the National Park a unique and special place are strengthened and made more resilient, bringing benefits for both people and wildlife.

Enjoy

We will work to champion the National Park as a place of inspiration, where everyone is able to enjoy, understand and value its special qualities


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Prosper

We will work to support a way of life in the National Park that continues to centre around strong and distinctive communities with a clear cultural identity and a vibrant local economy

Aiming for Excellence

We will work to champion The highest quality of service for local people and visitors and work closely with organisations and communities in championing the National Park

Protect Enjoy Prosper

Our priorities:

Enhancing the Forest’s

landscapes and habitats

Achieving excellence in

development and planning

Conserving strong local

distinctiveness and the character of the historic environment

Encouraging

environmentally sustainable land management

Our priorities:

Enabling high quality

experiences of the National Park

Improving understanding

of the special qualities of the National Park

Agreeing positive

recreation management

Leading on education

about the New Forest

Our priorities:

Supporting a distinctive

local economy

Improving affordable housing provision

Promoting sustainable transport

Encouraging sustainable

living


In all we do: Seek to provide the highest quality of service Working closely with others in championing the National Park Achieving an efficient and high performing organisation


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2012-2013 Delivery and Outcomes Protect The updated Operational Plan for Protect showing progress against the actions can be found in Appendix 1, some key points and messages are:

The State of the Park report was published in October 2012. Systems for updating the data have also now been established across the Authority.

The Western Escarpment Plan was approved by the Authority in June 2012 and the implementation phase is now underway.

The Authority’s ‘Growing the Forest’ initiative was taken forward in 2012-13 with the strategic planning phase and a number of workshops being delivered. The work is being progressed alongside the Biodiversity Action Plan, through a secondment post from Natural England and with a significant bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a unique Landscape Partnership.

A Better Boundaries feasibility study was completed and a successful funding bid was made for an ecological wildlife corridor to be created. The Catchment Pilot was also very successful and similar work is planned for 2013-14 after a further £34,000 was secured.

The CPRE Tranquillity mapping has been cut to the National Park boundary; site verification work can now start in summer 2013.

Work to supplement the well-received Design Guide has progressed steadily with a number of case studies having been identified and drafted.

Preparatory work for the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) was actioned and the Authority hosted a session on CIL for all the Southern National Parks in January 2013. The final arrangements will need to be in place for April 2014.

A review of planning policy in light of the Localism Act and National Planning Policy Framework was undertaken and found that the Authority policies were largely consistent. A small number of conflicting areas (uncommon to the type of applications received) will be subject to further analysis in 2013-14.

Hyde Village Design Statement has been adopted and another four have been drafted.

The archaeological elements of the New Forest Remembers project have been progressed with the mapping programme complete and volunteer site identification fieldwork well underway, leading to the drafting of site improvement plans.

An action plan has now been drafted from the Cultural Heritage Framework which was successfully agreed this year.

The New Forest HLS scheme has delivered a number of conservation, research and landscape projects this year and many others will continue into 2013-14. The Land Advice Service assisted the HLS with base line indicators alongside providing separate advice to over 90 land managers and 25 young commoners.


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Enjoy The updated Operational Plan for Enjoy showing progress against the actions can be found in Appendix 2, some key points and messages are:

The Authority has continued to improve and promote public access to the Forest, delivering five access projects this year and supporting the New Forest Access Forum.

Volunteer initiatives have thrived through work such as the Volunteer Fair, Bioblitz, New Forest Remembers, Mosaic Champions and Ancient Tree Project. Looking further forward, a ‘Volunteer Vision’ was produced in March 2013.

A walk and cycle rides database is now live on the new website, promoting recreational activities for local communities and existing visitors alike.

The Authority has hosted and supported numerous events during 2012-13 including the Greener Living Show, Marine Wonders, Wild Wednesdays, Discover the National Park, New Forest Show and Olympic-themed events. This work is supported by the on-going LIP scheme and the considerable efforts of the Ranger team.

Positive recreation management has been unrelenting this year through the RMS working group; some particular initiatives include Community Wildlife Plans, Tatchbury Mount improvements and work to land at Lover near Redlynch.

The Authority has continued to work closely with schools in developing the National Park in the curriculum, over 7,500 pupils received education sessions from NPA staff and over 1,700 were assisted to visit through the Travel Grant Scheme. 26 pre-school sessions were also successfully held this year.

Prosper The updated Operational Plan for Prosper showing progress against the actions can be found in Appendix 3, some key points and messages are:

The Authority supported the work of National Parks England in producing their study on “Valuing England’s National Parks” published in May 2013.

Work continues to support the local economy including the Local Enterprise Partnership, New Forest Marque, Our Land, Tourism support with NFDC and the revised Visitor Gift Scheme.

Criteria for releasing Developer Contributions were agreed this year and £60,000 has already been released to support an affordable housing scheme in Ashurst.

Support for Sustainable Transport has been a key success in 2012-13; in addition to another very successful New Forest Tour, £3.8m of funding was approved from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund and a further large bid has been made to the Department of Transport Linking Communities Fund.

The SDF funded a further nine projects this year totalling £178,000; a report refreshing and updating our community grant funding schemes was approved at the Authority meeting in March 2013, establishing the ‘Sustainable Communities Fund’.


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Aiming for Excellence The updated Operational Plan for Aiming for Excellence showing progress against the actions can be found in Appendix 4, some key points and messages are:

The Authority had its NPA Performance Assessment (Peer Review) in late 2012 with some very positive comments and a number of useful recommendations arising from it.

The new website was launched in January 2013 and provides a much improved customer service experience as well as saving officer time too. The up-to-date design has greater integration with social media and is adaptive to viewing on all modern devices.

Stakeholder engagement was comprehensively reviewed this year and an engagement plan was developed. Early outcomes included sharing the Authority Consultation Log with the Consultative Panel which has been successfully implemented.

An Organisational Development Plan was developed and the actions are already being implemented.

A full ICT service review was undertaken this year and changes realised.

Income Generation is now being strongly progressed through the employment of a part-time dedicated post to scrutinize and seize corporate sponsorship opportunities.

Finances Detail on the Authority’s finances for the last year can be found in the ‘Final Outturn & Treasury Performance Report 2012-13’ going to the Resources, Audit and Performance Committee in June. This information will then be formally incorporated into the Financial Report 2012-13 (Statement of Accounts) which will go to the Authority for approval in September.

Looking Forward The Protect, Enjoy, Prosper and Aiming for Excellence programmes have been retained and further enhanced within the recently published 2013-14 Operational Plan; this constitutes the third year of our four year Business Plan. All lessons learnt from 2012-13, in terms of both performance and finances, were directly built in to the Plan as it was being developed. This key document provides the Authority’s focus for the year ahead and will again be used to measure our achievements against the outcomes and goals we have set. Further detail as to the Authority’s achievements during 2012/13 can be found within the Chief Executive’s reports to the full meetings of the Authority.


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Key Performance Indicators Detailed information on the 2012/13 National and Local Performance Indicators is given below. A summary of the key messages from each set of data is given below: National Indicators points of interest include:

98% of SSSI land in the National Park is in favourable or recovering condition

All the Conservation areas have up-to-date character appraisals

22 Scheduled ancient monuments are in improving condition, representing 34% of those considered at risk

893 volunteer days were organised or supported by the Authority, of which 96 were attended by ‘under-represented’ groups

Strong progress has been made in reaching younger users of Promoting Understanding services

Feedback in promoting understanding has significantly fallen according to the statistics alone, however the method of data collection has been changed and therefore comparison with prior periods or targets is misleading

The development control KPIs are good for small & minor applications but low for the large & ‘other’ applications. This is due to the low number of applications of these types (meaning missing one target significantly affects the overall %) and the much higher complexity

Sickness days of 5.36 days per FTE missed our optimistic target of 3.2 days; however, it was a fall from the 2011-12 figure of 5.44 days

Regrettably, due to the on-going impact assessment and calculations following the office move, the CO2 performance figures were not yet available at the time of writing this report. As it was our first full year in the new offices, the 2012-13 figures will form a new baseline for these indicators going forward.

Local Indicator points of interest include:

Planning appeals allowed against refusal was very slightly above the set target of 35%.

A very promising set of results in Enforcement, with 3 of 4 targets achieved and the other fairly close

3 Village Design Statements are currently being produced

The land management KPIs show very strong results providing good support for land managers and young commoners

The ‘Enjoy’ results were very good with increased training programmes, ranger contacts, twitter followers and people attending events & talks

External funding figures are extremely impressive

Complaints and FOI processing were short of the idealised target of 100%, but in each case this is simply due to one or two not meeting the deadline from a small number of incidences.


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Performance Indicators

2012-13

National PIs YE

Target H1 Q3 YE DoT

Conservation of the Natural Environment

Area of SSSI land in the National Park 32,190ha

Area of SSSI land in NPA Management None

% of SSSI land in ‘favourable or recovering’ condition in:

the National Park as a whole 98% n/a 98%

Conservation of the Cultural Heritage

No. of Conservation Areas 20

% of Conservation Areas with up-to-date

character appraisals1 95% 95% 95% 95%

No. of Listed Buildings 622

No. of Listed Buildings at risk 11

No. of Listed Buildings at risk rescued during

the year 1 1 1 2

% of Listed Buildings at risk rescued during the year 9% 9% 9% 16%

No. scheduled ancient monuments 214

No. scheduled ancient monuments at risk c65

No. scheduled ancient monuments at risk

rescued during the year 22 n/a 22

% scheduled ancient monuments at risk rescued during the year 34% n/a 34%

Recreation Management

Total length of footpaths and other rights of way 326km

% of total length of footpaths and other rights of way, that were easy to use by members of the public; and follow the exact definitive line 82% n/a 74%

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Total No. of volunteer days organised or supported by the NPA 1,000 566 705 893

no. of those days attended by ‘under represented’ groups 100 83 90 96

1 One conservation area falls almost wholly within the boundary of New Forest District Council. We therefore do not

intend to complete an area appraisal for this.

2 High failure rate due to surface condition, likely to be due to the exceptionally wet autumn weather.

Signposting/waymarking in Wiltshire also had a high failure rate this year – this will be closely monitored going forward.


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2012-13

YE

Target H1 Q3 YE DoT

Promoting Understanding

No. of users of ‘promoting understanding’

services (national park centres, website,

events, education services)3 250,000 143,673 205,227 261,125

% satisfaction rating for users of ‘promoting

understanding’ services 80% 68% 69% 69% 4

% increased understanding of what is special about National Parks for users of ‘promoting understanding’ services 70% 40% 41% 42%

4

% of users of ‘promoting understanding’

services from under-represented groups5:

young people (5-24) 70% 79% 82% 83%

minority ethnic groups 8% 2% 3% 3%

people with limiting long-term illness or disability 3% 1% 1% 1%

Development Control

No. of planning applications received to date 959

% of planning applications by type dealt with in a timely manner:

Large scale major applications determined

within 13 weeks 65% 33% 33% 33%

Small scale major applications determined within 13 weeks 70% 100% 100% 100%

minor applications determined within 8 weeks 75% 71% 70% 72%

other applications determined within 8 weeks 90% 77% 79% 80%

% of planning applicants satisfied with the

service received 80% n/a n/a

Corporate and Democratic Core

No. of working days lost due to sickness absence per FTE 3.2 3.85 4.2 5.36

Member participation in attending committees 85% 81% 82% 85%

CO2 reduction from national park authority operations 10% n/a TBC

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Total greenhouse gas emissions (tonnes) 93 n/a TBC6

3 Does NOT include the New Forest Centre since it does not qualify as a 'National Park Centre' (it is not wholly-owned

and/or operated by the National Park Authority)

4 These results are low due partly to a change in methodology for the indicators and also due to low scores for the old

website.

5 Heavily biased towards Education since the bulk of opportunities to gather data currently come from Education group

bookings

6 Due to our move into new premises these are not yet available; once calculated, 2012-13 will become the new baseline.


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2012-13

YE Target

H1 Q3 YE DoT

Local PIs

Protect

Number of planning decisions delegated to officers as a % of all decisions

90% 89% 90% 90%

Appeals allowed against refusal of planning permission by the Authority (% of appeals)

35% 33% 35% 36%

% of enforcement cases dealt with in a timely manner:

acknowledge complaints within 3 working days 90% 90% 91% 92%

carry out initial investigation within 15 working days 90% 87% 89% 90%

check compliance with enforcement

notices within 5 working days of the expiry of the compliance period 90% 75% 75% 84%

initiate action for non compliance with an enforcement notice within 15 working

days 75% 100% 100%

100%

Support local communities in producing a Village Design Statement for their area

8 3 3 3

Support local people/businesses in

developing skills in conservation building7 5 4 4 4

Help land managers to seek or renew funding for environmental enhancements on their

land8 30+ 15 n/a 25

Deliver good quality land management advice to land managers on their holdings

100+ 90 n/a 100+

Work with our partners to support at least 25

young commoners in their commoning activities 25+5 15 n/a 25+

7 Project closed in October 2012, this year we supported 5 people, 4 businesses.

8 NFLAS did not prioritise this specific work for 2012/13


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2012-13

YE

Target H1 Q3 YE DoT

Enjoy

Number of people attending training programmes delivered to develop understanding of the National Park, e.g. New Forest Centre staff, B&B owners etc 150 41 92 234

Number of media features/press releases 75 39 57 101

Number of Local Information Points up and running 9 9 8 9

Number of ranger contacts, including through Mobile Unit 13,000 10,211 14,726 15,872

Sales from the National Park online shop (£) £2,500 £1,462 £2,100 £2,560

Amount of donations received (£) £5,000 £1,198 £4,806 £6,180

Number of followers on Twitter 5,500 4,845 5,115 5,800

Number of school/university students in Education sessions 7,500 5,950 6,857 7,542

Number of people attending events, such as

New Forest Show 20,000 16,959 17,000 17,280

Number of people visiting the New Forest Centre 275,000 166,242 211.527 245,809

Number of people attending talks to outside organisations (not in day-to-day staff work) 1,800 1,361 1,757 2,514

Prosper

External funding generated for Authority

projects N/A n/a c£865,000

Partner funding committed to projects supported by the Authority N/A n/a C£920,000


% public satisfied with support and advice

provided to meetings of the Authority and Committees 100% n/a n/a Number of Freedom of Information requests and complaints which are processed within the 20 working day response time

Freedom of Information 100% 91% 93% 93%

Complaints (Result: 15 out of 17) 100% 100% 89% 88%

Business miles claimed in private vehicles 61,390 n/a 56,850

Pool car & Pool van combined mileage 20,000 8,723 13,863 18,484

Documents

NFNPA RPC 195/13 NEW FOREST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY ...€¦ · The CPRE Tranquillity mapping has been cut to the National Park boundary; site verification work can now start in summer