Government ministers gave the Tees Valley Nature Partnership their seal of approval during an announcement by Richard Benyon, Parliamentary Undersecretary for the Natural Environment on 17th July at a presentation at the Policy Exchange in London.
Tees Valley was among the first 41 Local Nature Partnerships to be announced. Richard Benyon said “The vision, energy and commitment displayed in these applications was wonderful. Really diverse partners, many coming together for the first time, to work across geographic boundaries and administrative borders, and finding innovative ways of pooling and sharing limited local resources. And all this driven by the ambition to not only safeguard nature, but to recognise its importance to economic growth and the wellbeing of communities.”
Defra is working with a further nine areas who applied for LNP status to discuss their potential to become an LNP later this year.
This is an exciting start and there is still much to be done in shaping the key priorities of the TVNP, its governance structure, funding and delivery. The partnership will need a broad membership to ensure that it successfully achieves its overall purpose of driving positive change in the local natural environment, taking a strategic view of the challenges and opportunities involved and identifying ways to manage nature in an integrated way for the benefit of wildlife, people and the economy in the Tees Valley.
To take the TVNP forward we are hosting a workshop on Wednesday 12th September to which all partners and stakeholders will be welcome. Invitations will be emailed shortly with full details.
As the Tees Valley Nature Partnership Development Manager, I would like to thank all partners for their considerable enthusiasm and support in developing the partnership so far and I look forward to working with you all to create a strong and dynamic partnership that is needed to meet the challenges facing our natural environment.