About SNH

How does Scottish Natural Heritage work?

Being open and accountable
- Boards & Committees
- Customer care
Doing research and providing information
- Carrying out research and gathering evidence
- Providing information about Scotland’s natural heritage
- Providing advice and guidance
Looking after special sites and wildlife
- Looking after special sites
- Licensing
Raising awareness of the natural heritage
- Increasing people’s awareness of the natural heritage
- Helping people to learn about the natural heritage
- Gaelic
Responding to development proposals and consultations
- Planning casework
- Non- planning casework
Providing grants
Improving our efficiency and effectiveness
- A continuous programme of improvement
- Efficient Government Initiative
- On The Ground

Being open and accountable

Boards & Committees

Being open and accountable is central to the way in which SNH works.

Some of the ways in which we do this are described below:

Our Board meetings are open to the public and Papers and minutes are available on our website. Our Board Members also play a key role in networking with the wider public and partners at a strategic and political level.
The Scientific Advisory Committee, which provides scientific advice and expertise to the Board and staff, meets twice a year and these meetings are open to the public. Papers and minutes are available on our website.
The Local Advisers Forum comprises 15 Local Advisers from across Scotland who actively engage with the public on relevant issues. They help to promote SNH’s views and priorities and provide feedback to the Board on the effectiveness of our work.
The Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest looks at the notification and confirmation of these sites and can hear the views of objectors in person.
We hold a number of ‘Open Events’ throughout the year at which our staff mix informally with members of the public to share information and discuss topical issues.
We host a number of ‘Listening’ dinners to help improve our links with senior officials in the private, public and voluntary sectors. These dinners provide opportunities to promote our key messages and to listen to the views of other bodies.
We also carry out a number of Public consultations to help inform the development of new policies and the future management of our National Nature Reserves.

For further information contact Carole.wells@snh.gov.uk
Tel 01463 725004

Customer care

Our customers are the people of Scotland and anybody who visits, works in or takes an interest in Scotland’s natural heritage. This includes public and private organisations and the government as well as individuals. We are committed to providing an efficient, effective, high-quality service to all our customers.

We have a set of customer standards and we review our performance on these throughout the year. We also carry out regular customer surveys to help us improve the service we provide.

For further information contact Martin.Stubbs-Partridge@snh.gov.uk
01463 725000

Doing research and providing information

Carrying out research and gathering evidence

SNH carries out original research to create an evidence base for our work. Our priorities are set out in a research and development strategy, which covers the period 2007- 2012.

The strategy links the environmental agenda with health, education and tourism, and has five broad themes:

Involving Scotland’s People
Climate Change
Sustainable Management
Scotland’s Natural Diversity
Reporting and Data

An action plan outlines the planned programme in greater detail, including indicative funding levels for each programme area.

SNH undertakes much of its research with partner organisations, notably within the Scottish Government, local authorities, universities and a wide range of public, private and voluntary bodies. In 2007/08, we plan to spend about £5.5 million on research, including site surveys and monitoring.

Making the completed research available externally is very important. We produce Commissioned Research reports, and also promote the results through activities like our Sharing Good Practice programme and the Trends programme.

For further information contact Iain.MacGowan@snh.gov.uk
01738 458564

Providing information about Scotland’s natural heritage

SNH has a web-based information service, called SNHi. Through this service you can:

search for species information by place name, grid reference or postcode in the WIMBY (this stands for “What’s In My Back Yard”) section;
find out about sites of national and international importance, including site documents, management agreements, site condition monitoring support and support for the new Rural Development Contract scheme, in the SiteLink section;
get constantly updated facts and statistics about our work and Scotland’s natural heritage in the Interactive Facts and Figures section;
access our geographic datasets, which are particularly useful for supporting Strategic Environmental Assessment, in the Natural Spaces section;
learn about the changing state of the natural heritage in the Trends section.

We will soon be launching a new section, called SpeciesLink, which will provide access to our data on Scotland’s species, including information on distribution, conservation status, sightings and photographs.
For further information contact Alan.McKirdy@snh.gov.uk
01738 458568

Providing advice and guidance

One of SNHs key roles is to provide good advice and guidance on natural heritage issues to a wide range of people and organisations in Scotland and beyond. We do this through:

Our Natural Heritage Management Series of publications, which provide practical advice with an emphasis on ‘best practice’ in promoting sustainable use. These publications are particularly relevant to people working in land management, planning, tourism and environmental management.
Our Sharing Good Practice programme.
The ‘Working with You’ part of our website, which is aimed at communities, land managers, planners and landscape architects. This also provides links to other guidance and to recent advice SNH has prepared in response to Government and other public consultations.

For further information contact erica.knott@snh.gov.uk
01738 458674

Looking after special sites and wildlife

Looking after special sites

Many of the best examples of Scotland's natural heritage are designated as protected areas. These areas form about 20% of Scotland’s land area.

These areas are protected to help conserve and enhance our most important habitats, species and landscapes, and to ensure that any proposed changes to them can be considered in advance and, if necessary, action taken to prevent damage or manage change.

There are three levels of protected area:

Internationally important, which includes:

Natura 2000 sites, which are designated under European legislation; and
Ramsar sites, which are designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

Our role is to designate these sites on behalf of Scottish Ministers and to act as an advisor on the protective regime required by the Habitats Regulations.

Nationally important, which includes:

National Nature Reserves, which are designated by SNH. There are 56 National Nature Reserves throughout Scotland and these offer some of the best of Scotland’s natural heritage. They are managed primarily for wildlife and for people to enjoy. Nine National Nature Reserves are owned and managed by three Approved Bodies: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, the National Trust for Scotland, and Forestry Commission Scotland.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which are designated by SNH. All Scottish public bodies, including SNH, have a responsibility for protecting these sites.
National Scenic Areas, which are designated by Scottish Ministers. Local authorities lead on the care of these areas through the planning system. SNH acts as a consultee on their designation and on some development proposals.

Locally important, which includes:

Local Nature Reserves, which are designated by local authorities, who consult SNH on their natural heritage interest. We also provide grants to support their development;
Local landscape designations can play an important role in promoting awareness, pride and care of our most valued local landscapes, and also in looking after those which are most vulnerable.

We work closely with managers of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Natura sites. Since 2001, our Natural Care schemes have offered financial support for the management of these sites. From 2007, Natural Care will be integrated into the Scotland Rural Development Programme.

You can find out more about protected areas through SNHi, including access to site documentation through Sitelink and information on each site through Facts and Figures.

For further information contact John.Burlison@snh.gov.uk
01555 665928

Licensing

Scottish wildlife is protected under three main pieces of legislation:

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)
The Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended), and;
The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (as amended)

These pieces of legislation set out specific offences in relation to protected species of animal, birds and plants. There are, however, a number of exceptions or defences against these offences and one of these is licensing.

Licences can be issued to permit actions that would otherwise be illegal. Each piece of legislation gives specific purposes for which licences can be granted. For these pieces of legislation, the Scottish Government or SNH can issue licences.

The specific purposes for which licences can be granted under each piece of legislation, and the appropriate licensing authorities, can be found via the link below. However, as a general rule, SNH is responsible for issuing licences for scientific, educational and conservation-related purposes.

We issue nearly 1000 licences each year and provide advice to the Scottish Government on virtually all licences for which they are the appropriate authority. Our advice is focussed on the conservation implications of proposals.
Further advice and guidance on licensing, including application forms for licences from SNH, can be found on our website.

For further information contact Ben.Ross@snh.gov.uk
01463 725245

Raising people’s awareness of the natural heritage

Increasing people’s awareness of the natural heritage

Encouraging people to enjoy, understand and look after Scotland’s environment is key to it’s future.

SNH has a general purpose of fostering awareness and facilitating enjoyment of the natural heritage. We also have specific duties to promote awareness and understanding of the:

To do this, we use TV and radio advertising, provide leaflets and other information, and encourage local authorities, ranger services and many others to promote the Codes through their work.

A key area of work has been promoting awareness of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Since 2004, we have increased awareness from under 7% of the Scottish population to over 60%.

We have recently launched the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code and issued a draft Scottish Fossil Code for public consultation.

We’re also working with the Scottish Government to develop a communications plan to help increase people’s awareness of biodiversity issues. We also promote Scotland’s 55 National Nature Reserves as they offer wonderful opportunities to discover and learn more about Scotland’s natural heritage.

For further information contact Dougie.Pollok@snh.gov.uk
01738 458536

Helping people to learn about the natural heritage

SNHs role in helping people to enjoy, understand and value their natural heritage through major communication campaigns are supported by our work on formal education, informal learning (interpretation) and Sharing Good Practice.

Our work on formal education includes:

working with Learning and Teaching Scotland, the Scottish Government and other partners to help support the development of A Curriculum for Excellence through projects like TeachingSpace and our work on school grounds with Grounds for Learning and Ecoschools;
working with Learning and Teaching Scotland on sustainable development education;
supporting more outdoor learning through the Outdoor Connections programme.

Our work on informal learning includes:

improving standards of interpretation through Interpret Scotland;
promoting good practice guidance on interpretation planning;
developing good interpretation at our National Nature Reserves.

Through Sharing Good Practice we are helping to make sure that sharing ideas and good practice becomes a routine part of the way we all work.

For further information contact Julie.forrest@snh.gov.uk (01738 458535) or Rachel.hellings@snh.gov.uk (01738 458638).

Gaelic

Since 2001, SNH has had a Gaelic policy and this seeks to:

ensure that our policy of openness extends to communications in Gaelic;
improve communication and mutual understanding with Gaelic speaking communities;
enable us to benefit fom increased use of Gaelic in media and publications; and
encourage the use of Gaelic in communications relating to the natural heritage.

Since 2001, we have:

recruited a Gaelic communications officer with responsibility for working with Gaelic media and for promoting natural heritage issues in Gaelic speaking areas;
developed a Gaelic SNH website;
developed a database of relevant terms and names of species;
developed a Gaelic language plan in line with the Gaelic Language Act 2005;
supported knowledge of Gaelic amongst our staff;
produced bilingual publications, advertising and signage in appropriate areas and situations (such as signage at some National Nature Reserves).

For further information contact Shona.maclellan@snh.gov.uk
Tel 01463 725038

Responding to development proposals and consultations

Planning casework

SNH engages with the planning system at three levels:

providing advice to government on national policies;
advising local authorities on their development plans; and
responding to consultations about specific development proposals.

Most of our planning casework arises from consultations about specific development proposals. We receive over 3,000 planning consultation cases each year. Our 11 Area teams are at the ‘front line’ for handling these cases, and they receive support and advice from other parts of SNH.

Our policy statement, SNH and the Town and Country Planning System, and our planning webpage provides more information about our role. In responding to consultations, we aim to minimise impacts on the natural heritage interests and maximise the benefits.

We can be consulted about any kind of development proposal which might affect natural heritage interests. However, there is a statutory requirement for local authorities to consult SNH on:

proposals in or affecting a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area, a Special Area of Conservation or a Ramsar Site;
some types of development (generally those of larger scale) in National Scenic Areas;
proposals affecting European Protected Species or species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981;
cases which are subject to Environmental Impact Assessment regulations; and
proposals for commercial peat extraction.

We are also a “consultation authority” under the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive and play an important role as a source of environmental information for these assessments. Our geographic datasets are available through the Natural Spaces section of our website.
Improving the effectiveness of our work on planning casework is ongoing:

we are agreeing protocols with planning authorities to help clarify roles and responsibilities, and to help maintain standards and consistency in our responses;
we are reviewing our role in development planning casework, including the quality, consistency and efficacy of our responses, and looking at whether we could rely more on other organisations, especially local authorities, to deal with some types of natural heritage casework;
we are reviewing natural heritage skills in local authority planning departments to help identify priorities for training and capacity-building
we provide our staff with training and guidance, particularly to help achieve consistency in how our handling of casework across the 11 Areas.

For further information contact richard.ferguson@snh.gov.uk
01738 458540

Non- planning casework

We also respond to casework on many other issues, including changes of land use which may impact on the natural heritage, “Operations Requiring Consent” on Sites of Special Scientific Interest, woodland establishment and management proposals, consultations from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, river modification works, and proposals affecting European protected species and badgers.

Our 11 Area teams are at the ‘front line’ for handling these cases, and they receive support and advice from other parts of SNH and by a range of continually reviewed guidance.

We work closely with other agencies to streamline consultation procedures, with the aim of reducing overlap of effort and simplifying procedures for our customers.

For further information contact David.Law@snh.gov.uk
01463 725220

Providing grants

SNH gives between £12 and £14 million each year in grants to help people and a wide range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to protect and improve Scotland’s natural heritage and to encourage people to understand, enjoy and look after it. You can find out about the grants we have provided on our website.
We have 8 grant schemes:

managing special places;
supporting biodiversity;
raising awareness and understanding of the new access rights and responsibilities;
developing paths and routes that help more people to get out and enjoy the natural heritage;
making our towns and cities more attractive places to live;
involving more people in looking after the natural heritage;
promoting sustainable land management;
promoting sustainable management of water.

A grants pack is available for applicants from SNH offices and you can download the application form. Applications for grant of less than £10,000 can be made at any time. We have two application rounds for grants of £10,000 and over. The closing dates are 1 September and 15 April.

Rates of grant vary but are rarely more than 50% of the total project costs. SNH can fund projects over more than one year, with a maximum of three years.

For further information contact Gillian.Macdonald@snh.gov.uk
01463 725271

Improving our efficiency and effectiveness

A continuous programme of improvement

SNH is committed to continuous improvement – considering new needs and requirements, reflecting on experiences and learning from good practice, and making changes to maximise its impact in shaping the future of the natural heritage.

Our ability to help conserve and encourage enjoyment of the natural heritage is improved by being more efficient and effective, by providing modern public services and by our aspiration to be a flagship public body.

We have set ourselves nine challenges:

respond to change;
balance resources against demands;
be more joined up;
understand & use information better;
save time by sharing good practice;
acquire & retain the right skills;
provide clear guidance to managers;
develop management confidence & competence; and
have an enhanced profile & reputation.

To meet these challenges, we have set up a Development Programme which comprises a range of projects designed to:

achieve an outward focus:
through collaboration, for example with the On the Ground initiative and the new “Scotland’s Environment and Rural Service” project;
by improving our external communications, including the establishment of a new Strategy and Communication Directorate;
increase our internal capacity and capability to deliver efficiently and effectively:
through the implementation of a People Strategy;
through improvements to how we work, including the Efficient Government Initiative and a review of our Information Systems and information management.

For further information contact Peter.Hutchinson@snh.gov.uk
01738 458517

Efficient Government Initiative

The Efficient Government Initiative was established in November 2004 to save money across the Scottish public sector through efficiency improvements, with savings reinvested in public services. The Scottish Government aims to deliver £745 million of cash releasing savings and £300 million of time releasing savings by March 2008. However, it has ambitious plans to increase the total of these savings to £1.5 billion. Our contribution to this target is set at £2 million of efficiency savings by the March 2008 deadline.

Good progress has been made to date, with savings of £1.479 million achieved during 2006/7 (against a target of £1 million), and we are confident of exceeding our £2 million EGI savings target.

We are redirecting these savings to projects giving direct natural heritage benefit. In 2006/7, £687,000 was spread across 46 initiatives, with a focus on habitats and species improvement and research projects. Our approach now is to fund larger programmes of work, such as improving visitor facilities at key National Nature Reserves and implementing the Species Action Framework.

For further information contact: Kenneth.MacLean@snh.gov.uk
0131 446 2227

On The Ground

The On The Ground programme was started in late 2005 and brings together the public bodies responsible for looking after Scotland’s environment.

The programme is developing ways of sharing services and working together that help to improve “on the ground” delivery, such as providing advice and grant support to farmers, communities and businesses. The programme involves:

Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Cairngorms National Park Authority
Crofters Commission
Deer Commission for Scotland
Forestry Commission Scotland
Forest Enterprise Scotland
Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority
State Veterinary Service
Scottish Government Rural Directorate

Michael Russell, Minister for the Environment, has recently challenged the On The Ground partners to present proposals for a single environment and rural delivery service which will feel like an integrated service to our shared customers, extending the Rural Development Contracts approach to regulatory functions and advisory support. This proposal must be submitted to the Minister by September 2007.

For further information contact: alan.mowle@snh.gov.uk
0131 446 2219