Lead Organisation
Sustainability West Midlands
Project Delivery team: Morgan Roberts (Project Manager), Alan Carr (Climate Change Adaptation Lead), Louis March-Smith (Project and Data Officer)
Overview
A National Landscape (NL) is the everyday name for what is set out in legislation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). A team within Worcestershire County Council coordinate the MHNL Partnership (MHNLP). A key role of this partnership is to help manage the pressures on the NL, and is now required to adopt a climate change adaptation plan and embed this within future Management Plans by 2028 as per the ask of DEFRA through the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3).
The MHNL team commissioned SWM to support the development of their first adaptation plan after seeing our similar work with Local Authorities, including Herefordshire which part of the MHNL sites within.
Aims
- To analyse how the climate is likely to change in the MHNL up to the end of the century using UK Climate Change Projections.
- To assess the vulnerability of key assets, features, and sectors in the MHNL and set out a climate change risk assessment of the key risks and opportunities the MHNL is likely to face in the short, medium and long term.
- To develop a Climate Change Adaptation Plan in response to this which details a series of actions that should be considered for implementation by identified relevant local stakeholders within the MHNL.
- To engage with many stakeholders who have influence over and benefit from the MHNL to raise awareness and understanding of climate change adaptation and extract their views on climate risk, impact and response.
Outputs
Through extensive engagement and research, the following outputs have been delivered:
- A Climate Change Projections report outlining the current and future climate in the MHNL
- The main resource: a Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the MHNL
- A supplementary document containing a detailed methodology
Hyperlinks to the above outputs will be included when they are published.
By way of stakeholder engagement, we:
- Ran an online workshop with ~20 stakeholders to introduce the importance of climate adaptation and to hear how the MHNL has been impacted by severe weather and what they believe needs to be done to effectively adapt to climate change.
- Conducted ~15 one-to-one online meetings with various stakeholders working on the ground in the MHNL or representing organisations with knowledge and influence relevant to the area. These meetings aimed to gain a more in depth understanding on how each organisation/ service has been impacted by severe weather in the past few years and ascertain any existing activity that has taken place to adapt the MHNL to climate change impacts.
- Presented to the MHNL Steering Group during the development of the adaptation plan.
Testimonial
“SWM came recommended to us by a number of colleagues who worked in local authorities in this part of the West Midlands. We had never commissioned a Climate Change Adaptation Plan before so we were looking for an experienced and knowledgeable outfit to guide us and to take a strong lead in this work. That’s exactly what we got from SWM. Their involvement at every stage of the process from bid paperwork to project management and final reporting was well organised and highly professional. Their staff were happy to work independently where required and we quickly developed the confidence and trust to allow them to do this, including letting them consult and liaise directly with many of our most valued partners. They were also adaptable and skilled in bringing relevant learning and expertise from other commissions to add value to their work for us. We are very pleased with the first ever Adaptation Plan for the Malvern Hills NL which combines vision with a clearly structured framework for delivery and reporting.” Paul Esrich, MHNL lead at Worcestershire County Council
For further information on the project or to work with us in one of a variety of ways, please see our consultancy page or contact the SWM team on enquiries@swm.org.uk.
