Stuart France
Active member
Time on your hands? Bored? Fancy a little light reading? Then head for NRW's Area Statements published online today after a couple of years in the making:
https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/area-statements?lang=en
This is NRW's response to the Welsh Government's policy document issued in 2017:
https://gov.wales/natural-resources-policy
I've had the dubious pleasure of sitting through any number of Powerpoint presentations about NRW's progress towards formulating these 'area statements', delivered to delegates at the National Access Forum for Wales.
Having given the final product a quick scan this morning, my first concern is the absence of any identifiable mechanisms to transform these laudable intentions - but nevertheless abstract ideas - into something concrete enough to improve the lives of the people of Wales and visitors, in terms of enabling and expanding the enjoyment our "natural resources" so as to support greater "well-being". The photos in it are lovely, by the way.
A totally different group of delivery-orientated NRW (former forestry commission) staff have already been quietly getting on for the past couple of decades with projects like building mountain bike trails on forestry land, public recreational facilities generally, with some being thoughtfully placed within easy reach of communities whose local open-air recreational opportunities or the means to travel elewhere to find them are limited. Project delivery mechanisms are already in existence and well oiled. What's lacking is proper recognition of what these achievers have already built, and what they would be able to do next given the financial resources to grow the responsible use of the natural resources - rather than an academic framework in which to understand better their purpose in life.
https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/area-statements?lang=en
This is NRW's response to the Welsh Government's policy document issued in 2017:
https://gov.wales/natural-resources-policy
I've had the dubious pleasure of sitting through any number of Powerpoint presentations about NRW's progress towards formulating these 'area statements', delivered to delegates at the National Access Forum for Wales.
Having given the final product a quick scan this morning, my first concern is the absence of any identifiable mechanisms to transform these laudable intentions - but nevertheless abstract ideas - into something concrete enough to improve the lives of the people of Wales and visitors, in terms of enabling and expanding the enjoyment our "natural resources" so as to support greater "well-being". The photos in it are lovely, by the way.
A totally different group of delivery-orientated NRW (former forestry commission) staff have already been quietly getting on for the past couple of decades with projects like building mountain bike trails on forestry land, public recreational facilities generally, with some being thoughtfully placed within easy reach of communities whose local open-air recreational opportunities or the means to travel elewhere to find them are limited. Project delivery mechanisms are already in existence and well oiled. What's lacking is proper recognition of what these achievers have already built, and what they would be able to do next given the financial resources to grow the responsible use of the natural resources - rather than an academic framework in which to understand better their purpose in life.
