Agenda item

It was noted that Cllr Judith Twigg was recovering at home following a recent admission to hospital and the Members requested that a get well card be sent to her on their behalf.

The Chair reported that the Authority was looking at succession planning for staff, as the current highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce had an ageing population.  Only 5% of employees were under age 30 and only one employee was under age 20.  Heads of Service had been asked to look at workforce planning for their teams and a recent Member workshop had considered this an important issue for the Authority.  So with this in mind the Chair had invited some recentlyappointed employees to join the Members for lunch today for them to meet and find out about their hopes and aspirations at the start of their career working for the Authority. 

It was noted that the Authority had recently been working with Derbyshire County Council to liaise with representatives of Anhui Province in the People’s Republic of China, in particular with Huangshan National Park which resides within the province,to support the visitor economy in Derbyshire and the Peak District.  The Chair reported that Authority has signed a letter to support the development of friendly co-operation between the two National Parks to exchange and share information on the care of the special qualities or the National Parks, approaches to promote the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities and to help foster the social and economic well being of communities living in the National Parks. 

The Chair then invited Chris Dean, Head of Programme Delivery – Moors for the Future Partnership, and Sarah Proctor, Community Science Project Manager, to talk to Members about the Campaign for National Parks ‘Park Protector’ award 2017 that the Community Science Project recently won and gained a £2000 grant.  Chris and Sarah explained the background to the project and how it works with many community groups, schools, universities and national organisations.  Cllr David Chapman, Chair of the Moors for the Future Partnership Group, congratulated all who had been involved in the Project on their achievement.  He then urged the local authority appointed Members to go back to their authorities and ask them to help with extra funding for the Project to cover core purposes, such as staffing costs that are not covered by external funding grants, to enable the Project to continue.  He also drew attention to the Project’s annual review, copies of which were available to the Members at the meeting.

Cllr Mrs G Heath joined the meeting at 10.10am.

Members requested that an email be sent to constituent authorities giving details of the Community Science Project and how authorities could assist to keep the Project going on into the future.  This was agreed.  The Chair stated that other bodies were also being asked to help fund the Project further and added her congratulations to those involved.

Mr Zahid Hamid reported that the Peak District Mosaic collective had recently won the annual Group Award at the National Parks UK Volunteer Awards 2017.  Peak District Mosaic is made up of individuals from BME (black and minority ethnic) communities from around the Peak District National Park.  Members of the group give their time to mentor, increase confidence and encourage people from BME communities and those who have challenging social and community issues to access the Park.