The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24^th January 2025, were approved as a correct record.

It was noted that this is the last meeting for the Authority for Becki Woods having served for 8 years.  The Chair of the Authority presented her with a Certification of Appreciation.

There was no urgent business.

To note any questions or to receive any statements, representations, deputations and petitions which relate to the published reports on Part A of the Agenda.

No members of the public had given notice to make representations at the meeting.

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests they may have in relation to items on the agenda for this meeting.

There were no Member declarations of interest.

Theresa Reid, Head of People Management presented the report the purpose of which was to provide assurance that satisfactory safeguarding measures are in place to ensure our legal duty of care to provide a safe environment when children and vulnerable adults access our services.

This is a suite of annual reports which are managed by the People Management Team.  This is the first annual report to be brought in front of Members.  There is a Safeguarding Working Group who have worked through the recommendations.  This group meets quarterly.  The intention is to raise the profile of safeguarding so that it is everyone’s responsibility and actions have been identified to take this work forward.  These actions will form the basis of the Annual Report for next year.

Members thanked Theresa and colleagues for the work done and recognised that the Authority had aligned itself with the standards and scheme from the NSPCC.  It was noted that the Authority is committed to on-going annual training for staff and there will be an audit every year, there will be a range of ELMs modules and classroom training available to staff. 

The recommendations as set out in the report, were moved and seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1)    To note the Safeguarding annual report 2024-25 as set out in Appendix 1.

2)    To approve the draft Safeguarding Checklist and Action Plan for 2025-26 as set out in Appendix 2.

Theresa Reid, Head of People Management presented this report the purpose of which is to update Members on the work to date to ensure the Authority’s compliance with the specific duties under the public sector equality duty.

This is the first time this report has been brought in front of Members.  Equality is one of the legal obligations and is so important that it should come in front of Members for scrutiny. 

There were a number of comments and questions from Members covering the following subjects:

·         The gender pay gap and the actions taken to achieve this figure at 2.2% and any plans to reduce this figure further.

·         The outreach plans that are being developed for disadvantaged groups and the consistency of methods being used to measure the data.

·         The protected characteristics definition was clarified as meaning age, gender, race etc.

The recommendations as set out in the report were moved and seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1)    To approve that an update on the Equality Plan 2024-28 is taken to the Programmes and Resources Committee every April.

2)    To note the current version of the Equality Plan 2024-28.

Theresa Reid, Head of People Management, presented this report the purpose of which is to provide assurance that Occupational Safety and Health management and performance is satisfactory through 2024-25.

This is the first annual report that has been conducted without an “in-house” safety adviser and the work/responsibility has been taken on by staff. 

The workforce survey closed on Tuesday.  The results show that staff still have confidence in the H&S in work. Volunteers are also confident in the PDNPA approach to H&S.

Questions and comments from Members covered the following subjects:-

·         The recording of incidents and how is the severity of an event recorded.  Reporting of Injuries, Diseased and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) events were discussed where a form has to be submitted to the government for recording, there have been no such events this year.

·         It is good to understand the year-on-year trend to see what events are increasing and decreasing.  These figures will now form a baseline and comparisons could be made with other national parks and the industry as a whole.

·         The method of reporting long term sickness absences was discussed along with the kind of support which is offered to staff in order to get them back into work. 

·         The difference between sickness leave and compassionate leave was noted.

·         The conditions of service which are applied are set out in the Green Book.

RESOLVED:

1)    To note the Occupational Safety and Health annual report 2024-25

2)    To approve the Health Safety and Wellbeing objectives for 2025-26.

Theresa was thanked for her diligence and hard work she has put in over the years.

Sue Smith, Access and Rights of Way Officer, presented the report the purpose of which is to provide an update on funding for the Defra Access for All programme. 

Members asked what the funding is being spent on and noted that in general terms it is for developing work on active travel on the trails, accessibility hubs, and miles without stiles.  The funding is for both infra-structure and information.

The recommendations as set out in the report were proposed, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1)    The Committee supports the bid for and approves acceptance of Access for All funding for the project described in the report of up to a maximum of £350,000 for the period ending March 2026.  Approval of the terms of funding is delegated to the Head of Landscape and Engagement in consultation with the Finance Manager/Chief Finance Officer (or such other person appointed under S151 of the Local Government Act 1972)

2)    That authority be delegated to the Authority Solicitor to enter into and determine the terms and conditions of the funding agreement for the project in the best interests of the Authority.

3)    That approval be granted to incur expenditure up to £350,000 as detailed in the report, pursuant to Part 3, C3.(c), subject to compliance with the Contract Procedure Rules and Standing Orders.

4)    That authority be delegated to the Authority Solicitor to enter into and determine the terms and conditions of any contracts required for the project, subject to a compliant procurement exercise and tender evaluation being carried out as required in line with Standing Orders.

5)    That approval be granted to exempt Standing Orders in respect of the delivery by Highway Authorities of works, services and supplies in respect of the project.

6)    That authority be delegated to the Authority Solicitor to enter into and determine the terms and conditions of Service Level Agreements with Highways Authorities in the best interests of the Authority.

7)    That this project be monitored by the Audit, Budget and Project Risk Management Group or an equivalent group or committee.

The meeting was adjourned from 10.51am until 11.01am following consideration of this item.

Sue Fletcher, Head of Landscape, presented the report the purpose of which is to inform Members about the Authority’s progress in landscape and nature recovery since January 2024 and what this means for the future.  This is an annual update on the management plan aims. It was noted that paragraph 3.44 needs to be removed from the report. 

A presentation was given to Members from the following Officers:-

·         Sarah Bird, Nature Recovery Officer

·         Rebekah Newman, FiPL Programme Manager

·         Jackie Wragg, Morridge Hill Country Project Manager

            Officers were thanked for their presentation and there were questions and comments       from Members which covered the following subjects:-

·         Whether there were any plans to re-introduce or trans-locate any endangered species into the project area.  This is being considered as part of the development phase.

·         The impact that the work is having and progress against targets would be helpful information to have.  This would provide a measure of what is effective and what is not working well as some may be delivering better value for money than others.  The AI mapping would be a good tool to track this.  There are some figures available and more can be provided.  Tasked by DEFRA  each year to complete 49 headlines for each project.  It would be helpful to have descriptions of the inputs and also descriptions of the outputs along a strategic overview and to be able to demonstrate as an Authority the benefits that are being created.

·         The final version of the consultation response is available and will be circulated to Members. 

·         The local nature recovery strategy is seen as soft influencing rather that hard influencing and does seem to be bureaucracy heavy.  There are six Local Nature Recovery Strategies that cover the Peak District and these seem to use slightly different methodologies. 

·         The map on page 68 of the report showing the different counties involved raises some concerns around the mapping.  Concern that as a result of guidance from DEFRA there may be restriction on funding in the future.

The recommendation as set out in the report was proposed, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1)    To note progress in delivering to the Peak District National Park Management Plan 2023-28 and Authority Plan landscape and nature recovery aim and targets.

Sue Fletcher, Head of Landscape and Engagement introduced the report the purpose of which is to inform Members about the Authority’s progress in responding to the Welcoming Place aim since April 2024 and what this means for the future.

A presentation was given to Members from the following Officers:-

·         Lorna Fisher – Engagement Team Manager

·         Sue Smith – Access & Rights of Way Officer

Becki Woods left the meeting at 12:16pm

Questions and comments from Members:-

·         It was mentioned that the Peak District Proud campaign, which is being reviewed, has not been a resounding success and other ways of promoting this work need to be explored.

·         How can the ambition to make the Peak District National Park a more welcoming place be measured?

·         1.2 million people visited Mam Tor in the last year.  The Ranger Service are taking time to reflect about how to engage and provide a service and create and add value for visitors.

·         Thanks were given to Sue Smith for all her work and for improving access for people.

·         Thanks were given to the Engagement Team and Staff and Members recognise there is a big gap in the organisation after the re-structure.  There is great admiration for the Engagement Team for achieving such positive outcomes with limited staff and this will be harder to achieve with a depleted workforce.

·         Need to look at how ranger volunteers can be utilised to cover some of the roles although it is not realistic to rely on just the rangers and need to look at other media and communication channels to promote the messages. Hopefully the youthful voice initiative will reach a different audience demographic.

·         Trails were discussed and whether there were any more plans to increase the number of trails in the future.  The Active Travel Plan will come to Members in the near future and staff have been working in partnership with major land owners, Local Access Forum and Highways Authorities in looking at developing key access routes.

·         North Lees was discussed and funding has been agreed to keep a wheelchair on site and the possibility of a tramper vehicle.  A route has been identified which runs across from Manchester to Sheffield which will link in with North Lees.

·         The feedback from the Ambassador Schools has been very positive and partnership working is going to be very important in the future.

·         There was a request for the Communications Plan to be resurrected and suggestions that social media should be used in a more imaginative way.  The Communications strategy must use close targeting as not everyone needs to be targeted in the same way and therefore may have to look to other people delivering the communications messages.

·         There was mention of how we engage with other groups e.g. the Kinder Trespass anniversary, right to roam and right to swim groups, all of which are very active.  

The recommendation as set out in the report was proposed, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1)    To note progress in delivering to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17/24