Starting up

Its always a bit of leap of faith to leave behind something you’ve been doing for a long time and venture into the unknown. After 15 years at the Cornwall AONB and 10 years heading up the Cornwall AONB Partnership, it was time to change things up a bit.

I decided to start ‘Gain’ in the recognition that there seemed to be a shift in consciousness happening. The government had published a 25- Year Environment Plan which for the first time in a long time really set out the country’s ambitions to turn around the fortune of nature and a whole host of other services provided by our landscapes.

Whatever you think of the B-word, leaving the EU looked like it was going to provide some opportunities for delivery of this big vision, with government announcing and new Environment Bill which grounded the 25-Year Plan in statute and brought into being a new environmental regulatory body and offered the potential to make biodiversity net gain mandatory.

The new Agriculture Bill preceded by the ‘Health and Harmony’ consultation introduced the idea that we could refocus our agricultural payments towards the positive management of ‘public goods’ or ecosystem services.

In July 2019 Michael Gove launched the Glover Review of Designated Landscapes – a root and branch investigation into whether our National Parks and AONBs are fit for 21st century challenges. this review reports in autumn 2019 and should place protected landscapes at the core of nature recovery.

At the same time, in 2019, we have had one report after another detailing the catastrophic consequences of not addressing climate change and multiple warnings on the imminent collapse of biodiversity (otherwise known as life as we know it).

As someone with lots of experience in both ecology and landscape management it felt like I could be doing something differently to work with the opportunities and in doing so help to address the challenges, in a way which was more flexible than being in one role would allow me to do. I wanted to work more across sectors, whether that be with parishes on Neighbourhood Planning, Local Authorities on strategic landscape planning or with developers on landscape mitigation and biodiversity net gain.

Gain launches on the 1st July 2019. If you have a project I can help with , please get in touch.