IHBC Yearboox 2018

36 Y E A R B O O K 2 0 1 8 through direct advice or as actual case officers. When monitoring of conservation services first began in 2006 there were more stand- alone conservation or environment teams, but those smaller one- or two-person services were frequently based in planning policy where they were often one step removed from the decision process as consultees. Some reorganisations placed the conservation service away from its traditional home within the planning function and into a central corporate department. However, this trend now appears to be diminishing as it becomes apparent that while it may offer advantages for corporate working it can weaken the working links within the planning process. In recent years shared services have been seen by some as a way forward for maintaining local authority working in the new world of reduced budgets and reduced capacity (see Further Information, IHBC, 2015). Examples of shared service include the provision of specialist advice by one authority with specialist conservation staff selling its services to another. There are also a number of examples of joint posts where two or more separate councils work together to develop shared staffing and jointly recruit to a post or posts. Some shared services are created when whole local authorities are merged or create a formal alliance. These joint structures may simply merge back-office functions but where they create a fully merged staff structure that may then include conservation. A final model for sharing involves establishing a separate company or charitable body to provide specialist conservation advice, usually by existing staff from the member authorities being transferred into the new organisation. Shared services are not a panacea for loss of capacity and the early closure of some relatively new shared services may be a sign that the tide is turning on this way of working. In some cases sharing can protect existing conservation services for the future or offer conservation services to authorities that would not otherwise have them, but such arrangements can also be vehicles for reducing capacity, losing skilled staff and decreasing the scope of work carried out. While some shared conservation services carry out duties that represent the full spectrum of conservation specialist advice, most do not take on work outside the most mainstream development management advice. The exclusion of crucial activities from the service may meet the basic statutory needs of dealing with applications but it may not provide the level of conservation service that is truly necessary. If a local authority does not have access to appropriate specialist advice then decisions cannot be properly informed and the authority’s statutory and corporate responsibilities addressed. The IHBC continues to collect information and consider where local authorities are currently maintaining an appropriate level of informed conservation specialist advice and how this advice is being obtained. Further Information Analysis of the Impact of Sharing Local Conservation Services , IHBC, 2015 (http://bc-url.com/sharing-services ) The Ninth Report on Local Authority Staff Resources , HE/ ALGAO/IHBC, 2017 (http:// bc-url.com/LA-staff-resources) Fiona Newton, operations@ihbc.org.uk Local authority conservation capacity in England, 2006–17 (see Further Information, HE/ALGAO/ IHBC, 2017) CONSERVATION SERVICES IN ENGLAND (Full Time Equivalents) 850 800 750 700 650 600 550 500 450 400 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Conservation officers Adrian Neilson, Caroline Waldron and Laura Batham discussing conservation policy at Bath & North East Somerset Council

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