Countryside Management Association News

A full report of the results from the 2007 Survey of Attitudes and Behaviours in relation to the Environment is released today. It gives a representative picture of what people in England think, and how they behave, across a range of issues relevant to the environment, including transport and recycling.

The results presented here follow from previous Environmental surveys run by Defra and its predecessors in 1986, 1989, 1993, 1996-7 and 2001. The results for the 2007 survey were produced from data collected from a representative sample of 3,618 individuals in England during spring 2007. The data were collected on behalf of Defra by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) during computer assisted interviews.

Structure of the report

This full report, completed for Defra by BMRB, follows National Statistics releases of headline survey results released on 14 August 2007, and results of questions on wellbeing on 27 July 2007.
The survey itself was split into several sections. The report is presented using the same structure, as follows:

• Knowledge and attitudes
• Behaviours to reduce climate change
• Travel behaviour and attitudes
• Energy and water efficiency in the home
• Reducing waste, reusing and recycling
• Purchasing behaviours
• Green spaces
• Animal welfare
• Biodiversity
• Wellbeing

Where applicable, each section covers the following in relation to that subject:

• Attitudes
• Behaviours
• Barriers

The survey data, anonymised to protect confidentiality, is being concurrently released on the UK data archive website.
The full report can be found at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/pubatt/index.htm

An area of gorse is being cleared in Snowdonia to improve the habitat for a rare blue butterfly.
Following the clearance, sheep will be allowed to graze the land at Beddgelert to pave the way for the Silver Studded Blue to breed next year.

Highly grazed heather is the "perfect" habitat for the Silver Studded Blue.

The site at Hafod Garegog National Nature Reserve is owned by the National Trust and managed in partnership by the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW).

"The temperate conditions of north west Wales are ideal for these butterflies," said Doug Oliver from CCW.

"The gorse clearance will be invaluable here in removing barriers to expansion as Silver Studs are weak fliers and tall vegetation prevents them colonising suitable areas."

The butterflies lay their eggs on heather stems, and their larvae eat heather shoots.

Mr Oliver added: "They are very fussy and only like heavily grazed heather.

"Gorse shades out heather, and also prevents the essential sheep grazing in the autumn that keeps the heather in breeding condition for butterflies."

The gorse will be cleared by volunteers with the European-funded Meirionnydd Oakwoods Habitat Management Project.

As well as the butterflies Hafod Garegog National Nature Reserve is known for its population of Small Red Damselfly, a species which breeds in small boggy pools.

Minister for waste Joan Ruddock today urged local authorities to bring themselves up to the level of the best in tackling fly-tipping as she published new figures.

The Flycapture results for April 2006 to March 2007, show more fly-tipping incidents are being reported and more action is being taken to tackle them.

But Ms Ruddock stressed that, while this demonstrated increased vigilance, this was only the first stage in tackling the issue.

The results, covering 354 English authorities, show an increase in incidents over the past year, however, nearly half of all cases reported came from Liverpool City Council.

Key results include:

 Local Authorities in England reported that they had dealt with more than 2.6 million incidents of fly-tipping – up five per cent on 2005-06. 1,289,410 incidents were reported by Liverpool City Council.
 Enforcement action taken by local authorities, excluding Liverpool City Council, increased by 46 per cent to 357,829 cases. The figure for all authorities, including Liverpool City Council, was 16 per cent.
 Half of all fly-tips recorded involved single black bags and it is estimated that the majority of these occurred in back alleys and involved waste placed out for collection incorrectly, primarily in Liverpool. However, when Liverpool City Council is excluded, 48 per cent of all recorded fly-tips occurred on the highway and 53 per cent of fly-tips were of a car boot or small van load in size.
 77 per cent of fly-tips involved household waste - a 5.4 per cent increase on 2005-06. Once Liverpool City Council is excluded, 56 per cent of all fly-tips involve household waste - a 10 per cent increase on 2005-06.

Ms Ruddock said:

“Despite some good progress over the past year – including more reporting and more enforcement - there is far too much fly-tipping blighting our streets and countryside. It’s not acceptable, councils must do more to tackle it.

“Councils as diverse as Sheffield, Worthing and Milton Keynes are driving down fly-tipping through targeted, concerted action. I want other councils to follow their lead.

“Government has a role to play in this by continuing to provide and update the tools and guidance to enable action to be taken. And the public and businesses must also play a part by reporting incidents and dealing with their waste responsibly.

“In short, we can only clean up our streets by all working together.”

The Government published its Waste Strategy for England 2007 in May, which set out a blueprint for not only recycling and reusing waste, but also preventing it in the first place. The strategy makes it clear that initiatives to boost recycling should be supported by fly-tipping strategies aimed at preventing the illegal dumping of waste.

Decisions about the most appropriate household waste collection services are a matter for local authorities, not central Government.

Work Government is carrying out to help tackle fly-tipping includes:

 Reviewing legislation on the controls that are in place to deal with the management and carriage of waste. The review aims to reduce levels of fly-tipping, make it easier for businesses to understand and comply with the regulations and make them easier for local authorities to use.
 Developing legislation that will give local authorities and the Environment Agency the powers to stop, search and instantly seize vehicles being used to commit fly-tipping offences.
 Working to better understand how small businesses and householders deal with waste and the types of awareness raising campaigns that would most effectively reach these groups.
 Continuing to fund the Environment Agency’s targeted campaigns to disseminate good practice to businesses and raise awareness of good waste management practices.
 Funding the Environment Agency to develop Flycapture Enforcement, a training programme aimed at local authority officers and their legal teams to increase knowledge of the relevant legislation and to develop skills in effective enforcement and prosecution of fly-tipping. Environmental charity, ENCAMs and the Chartered Institution of Waste Management (CIWM) have joined up to co-ordinate the delivery of the package throughout England and Wales.

Other points from the Flycapture statistics include:

 It is estimated that local authorities are spending £24.6 million on enforcement action against fly-tipping. Excluding Liverpool City Council, the figure is £17.8 million. This is the first year that data on enforcement spend have been available.
 Excluding Liverpool City Council, fly tips of commercial waste black bags have fallen by 10 per cent on 2005–06 from 59,630 to 53,566.
 The number of inspections carried out by local authorities to check that businesses are dealing with their waste responsibility has increased from 12,450 in 2005-06 to 25,745 in 2006-07.
 Local authorities carried out 1,371 prosecutions in 2006-07, of which 94 per cent achieved a successful outcome.
 93 per cent of fly-tipping takes place in predominantly urban authorities where 63 per cent of people in England live. Excluding Liverpool City Council, 88 per cent of fly-tipping takes place in predominantly urban authorities.

Notes to editors

1. Full Flycapture results for 2006/07, broken down by local authority area, are available at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/localenv/flytipping/flycapture.htm

2. Flycapture is the national database of fly-tipping incidents and enforcement action that was set up by Defra, the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association to record the incidents and cost of illegally dumped waste dealt with by local authorities.

3. 323 local authorities in England (91 per cent) entered 12 separate monthly returns to the Flycapture database between April 2006 and March 2007 and 345 authorities (97 per cent) submitted at least 10 monthly returns in this period. This represents an increase for the third consecutive year and reinforces the successful uptake and use of the database as a management information source.

4. The Environment Agency is responsible for dealing with more serious cases of illegal waste disposal. Data from illegal dumping dealt with by the Environment Agency is currently being analysed and will be published in due course.

5. A recent survey by the Environment Agency reveals 48 per cent of businesses have introduced practical measures to reduce environmental harm, an increase of 17 per cent on 2005. Further details can be found at:
http://www.netregs.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/smenvironment07uk_1856733.pdf .

6. The Government’s action plan on illegal waste activity is included at Annex F to its Waste Strategy for England 2007. Details can be found at:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/strategy07/index.htm
7. Examples of good practice in tackling fly-tipping among local authorities include:

London Borough of Islington

Islington has seen a 47 per cent reduction in fly-tipping incidents in 2006-07 from 8,812 to 4,610. The council increased inspection and monitoring of fly-tip hotspots, used data from Flycapture to deal with specific problems of commercial and bulky waste and launched a communications drive with local residents. It also restructured its street environment team for maximum effectiveness.

Milton Keynes Council (South East)

Milton Keynes has seen a 35 per cent reduction in fly-tipping incidents in 2006-07 from 3,511 to 2,252. Staff numbers on the enforcement team have increased, Flycapture data has been used to identify hotspots and covert surveillance has been carried out at them, leading to prosecutions, penalty notices and cautions. Opening hours have also been extended at civic amenity sites.

Sheffield City Council

Sheffield has seen a 33 per cent reduction in fly-tipping incidents in 2006-07 from 161,898 to 108,884. Following data showing that hot spots were appearing on housing estates, the council subsequently revised collection arrangements in areas of high density housing. In particular, a “red bag” scheme was introduced, offering students additional refuse collection at the end of term. The council has also worked with South Yorkshire Police and the Environment Agency on stop and search operations and wider rogue trader operations.

Worthing Borough Council (South East)

Worthing has seen a 33 per cent reduction in fly-tipping incidents in 2006-07 from 2,248 to 1,484. Following data showing that fly-tipping problems were centred around household black bag waste in or around properties with poor storage, the council installed street bins for these properties and issued residents with notices requiring them to use the bins. Checks were carried out with all businesses in the surrounding areas to ensure that commercial waste was not dumped in the bins.

Page published: 09 October 2007

Environmental charities simply cannot afford to save the world, according to a new report on green giving. The ability to raise awareness and bring about significant change by pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace is being hampered by a severe lack of funding.
Much of the political will behind the recent slew of green politics has been generated by decades of relentless lobbying and campaigning from the environmental movement, which has also commissioned the bulk of scientific research providing the evidence to support our response to such issues as melting glaciers and destruction of the rainforest.

Campaigns from the environment sector have also influenced the public's approach to issues such as climate change, shaping our willingness to get our own house in order over carbon emissions and wasting natural resources.

Yet the report, Green Philanthropy, launched by the think-tank, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), estimates that less than two per cent of charitable grants in the UK go to environmental charities and less than five per cent of the £8bn of voluntary donations given annually in the UK go to environmental causes. Unless funding increases, the report warns, the potential of charities to make real changes could be severely curtailed as environmental problems grow in complexity and scale.

"There is a huge divide between the levels of awareness, publicity and interest in environmental issues and the levels of funding that actually enable groups to effect change," says Bernard Mercer, who authored the report.

Lack of funding from trusts and foundations is particularly significant: this is often the lifeblood of most environmental groups - small organisations working in specialist areas without the marketing budgets or mass appeal to generate much interest from the general public.

Earlier this year a report by the Environmental Funders Network, Where The Green Grants Went, painted a gloomy picture. It showed that a few large funders gave £34m in environmental grants in 2005-6 - a mere 1.6% of the £2bn given by the UK's largest grant-making trusts in 2004-5. The report said this figure is "disturbingly small ... particularly in the context of declining levels of statutory support for environmental work."

It also found that funding directly tackling climate change is just 8% of the environmental grants made by the larger trust funders. Even more tellingly, the network showed the projects most likely to win funding from trusts and foundations is "practical conservation work", closely followed by education projects.

Jon Cracknell, the network's coordinator, says that sums up the problems facing the environment sector. "Trust funders remain daunted by the scale of the issues these groups are tackling. And they're unsure about how to measure their impact."

Cracknell fears the importance of the work of the environment movement isn't being reflected in grant income. "Climate change only burst on to the scene in a big way in 2003, so maybe it's unrealistic to expect trusts to have played catch-up in such a short space of time. Even so, it's disconcerting there is such a mismatch."

The high level of public interest in environmental issues is also not being followed by financial support for groups looking to provide solutions. Consumers International statistics out this summer showed that 90% of the public accepts climate change is caused by human activity. But in stark contrast only 7% thought they were able to do something about it and, of that 7%, only 3% try to live sustainably.

"It's become a skewed debate. On the one hand we are being told it's our responsibility to reduce our carbon emissions," says Cathy Anderson, director of marketing at Greenpeace. "On the other, corporates and government know we want to hear they are solving the problem of climate change, so we're being fed all this greenwash about how environmentally responsible the state and the private sector are being, when what they're actually doing is a fraction of what their PR implies. So in the end the public think the problem is being tackled when it isn't."

As with trust funding, a major barrier to people giving more to environmental causes is they find it hard to judge how their contribution will make a difference.

"The charitable landscape in the UK is now dominated by public service delivery, and the emphasis is increasingly on being able to demonstrate immediate outcomes and beneficiaries," says Anderson. "We don't have this luxury, so it's often difficult to show the public exactly how their £10 will make a difference.

Global Witness, a pressure group that works on the relationship between mass environmental destruction and human rights, says a more immediate problem is dominance of climate change over other environmental crises.

"Climate change is such a huge issue that it's only through taking it down to the micro level of recycling and reducing how many long-haul flights we take that we're able to understand how to handle it," says Jesse Roberts, senior development manager at Global Witness.

"But our preoccupation with global warming has masked other issues, such as deforestation, that we can do something about now. We need to get people refocused on treating the causes as well as the effects of environmental damage, and this means getting far more coordination of messaging and cooperative working across all environmental groups."

So what is the future for environment groups in the UK? Despite the gloomy statistics, many believe the situation will improve. "Despite the situation we're in now, as environmental issues grow I do think funding will start coming into line," says Anderson. "I firmly believe we all know what is at stake."

A highly contagious crayfish plague which is lethal to Britain's only native species has broken out.
The Environment Agency has confirmed aphanomyces astaci in the River Waveney that forms the Suffolk/Norfolk border.

This fungal disease is lethal to native white-clawed crayfish already under pressure from immune American signal crayfish introduced in the 1980s.

Native crayfish have been wiped out in many rivers by the much larger signals with whom they compete for food.

Over recent weeks hundreds of Turkish crayfish, another introduced species, have been found dead on the river near Beccles.

Fungal infection has wiped out large numbers of native and non-immune species since it was brought to the UK in the 1980s by the American signal crayfish.

Amanda Elliott, spokeswoman for the Environment Agency, said tests had confirmed an outbreak of aphanomyces astaci, the fungal disease commonly known as crayfish plague.

Measures are now being put in place to try to prevent any spread, particularly to rivers populated by the native British white-clawed crayfish.

Ms Elliott said: "What we are most concerned about is preventing the disease spreading to another river system. Luckily, there are no British white-clawed crayfish recorded in the River Waveney."

River users are being urged to thoroughly clean equipment before using it in other waterways, she added.

Signals are immune to the infection, which they carry on their shells, but white-clawed crayfish cannot fight the fungus which spreads through their body and eats them alive.

Remote bodies of water known as 'Ark' sites have been sought out to maintain the native species across the UK, such as the River Glaven in North Norfolk.

Julia Stansfield of the Environment Agency said: "We're really worried about the disease getting into other rivers and especially the Wensum where there's a good strong population of native crayfish still present.

"If it starts getting into other rivers as well it's possible that we could see no more native crayfish in East Anglia."

The UK government's chief scientist has advised ministers that badgers should be killed to prevent the spread of TB among cattle.
Sir David King says culling could be effective in areas that are contained, for example, by the sea or motorways.

His report follows a previous study that said culling badgers would be ineffective.

The Independent Scientific Group found that targeting one site would only cause badgers to flee to other farms.

The report was submitted to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in July and published on Monday.

Sir David said: "Together with five well-respected experts, I have assessed the ISG report and other research relating to badgers and TB in cattle.

"It is clear that badgers are a continuing source of infection for cattle and could account for 40% of cattle breakdowns in some areas.

"Cattle controls remain essential but I consider that, in certain circumstances and under strict conditions, badger removal can reduce the overall incidence of TB in cattle."

About 2,500 cattle a year get bovine tuberculosis (bTB), and some 30,000 stock are killed every year because of the disease, according to the National Farmers' Union.

The union also believes a cull is necessary to curb TB in cattle.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the issue was "extremely difficult".

It was committed to "evidence-based policy decisions" but no decisions were imminent, it said.

The Independent Scientific Group (ISG) assessed the results of a nine-year experiment to discover whether killing badgers would stem the spread of disease.

Its findings, published in June, said badgers did play a role in the spread of bTB.

However, it warned that the culling would have to be so extensive it would be uneconomical.

It found that although TB infection dropped in the immediate area of the cull, it increased on adjoining farms, in effect shifting rather than solving the problem.

Professor John Bourne, author of the ISG report, said Sir David's recommendations were not consistent with the scientific findings of his report but were "consistent with the political need to do something about it".

"If you wish to go down the culling route, you have to do what the Irish are doing in large parts of their country and that is eliminate," he added.

Sir David denied he was influenced by government.

"I would never give advice based on pressure from politicians - that's precisely what went wrong in the BSE episode," he told the BBC.

Dr Richard Yarnell from the Badger Trust said the latest report amounted to a "shameful political fix" and it "beggared belief" that the government was even thinking about implementing a cull.

Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, told the BBC the disease was "devastating" many farming communities and the government should take heed of the new recommendation.

Farmer Peter Ganblett from Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, said farmers had exhausted all the advised preventative measures, including putting feed troughs higher and trying to keep badgers out of buildings.

"All those things we have done to no avail because the one aspect no one has been prepared to look at is the link between cattle and badgers," he said.

"The problem we are up against is everyone has the image of lovely, fluffy badgers galloping about, but cows are also entitled to lives."

The Conservative Party said the government's policy on bovine TB had "descended into a shambles".

Jim Paice, shadow agriculture minister, said: "Only a month after the Independent Scientific Group on cattle TB published its final report, the chief scientific adviser was confirming what we and many farmers believed, that the report did not adequately address the problem of bovine TB.

"What is shocking is that it has taken a further three months for this latest report to be made public."

While most cattle farmers may support a cull, it would prove unpopular with the public.

A government consultation of more than 47,000 people found that more than 95% of people were opposed to the idea.

The report comes ahead of Sir David giving evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee on Wednesday.