Local Innovation: How LERC Services Are Shaping Up

For the past few years, the Association of Local Environmental Records Centres (ALERC) and its members have been advocating for the use of local data services to inform the design, delivery and ongoing monitoring of biodiversity net gain in England. This talk will provide an update on key developments at a national level and will provide examples of innovation at a local level.

Q&A with Mandy Rudd

Mandy Rudd is the chief executive of Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC, and co-chair of ALERC. Mandy has represented ALERC and its members in various groups and projects in relation to biodiversity net gain over the past few years.

What is the role of Local Environmental Record Centres in improving habitat data in England?

Some records centres already provide a service (mostly to local councils) specifically around recording habitats. In some counties that means the LERC is centralising and validating existing habitat data from national and local datasets to make a ‘best available’ version, whilst in other counties the LERC is using profit generated from charging for services to fund its own habitat survey programme. I suspect we will see a lot more of this as advocacy for LERC services from key national and local stakeholders grows.

How are LERCs set up to monitor change over time in habitats?

That will be down to local arrangements. It is really difficult to say but it will be down to a county-by-county basis due to resources available, and engagement with the LERC by its stakeholders to help them shape their services

Is there value in having fewer records centres that may be better resourced?

No! Because of the way LERCs were developed historically they tend to focus on the same administrative area as the main county council, which has some great benefits. With such a local focus, you can provide support to local community networks and professional networks in generating and getting the most out of high quality data. If we start looking at records centres that span multiple county councils then you are starting to look at complexity that perhaps you don’t really need, due to each county council having different local plans and resources strategies. You may also lose sight of the people in the networks the LERC was set up to serve, and it’s this that sets LERCs apart from the faceless data platforms. There may be room for scaling up some of these things through collaboration through records centres for partners that span more than one record centre area.

How do we encourage more people to get involved in wildlife recording and what have record centres been doing around that?

If we look at the community-level focus of record centres, it is possibly the start of all this, as it will provide tools and training for local people who haven’t been involved in this before. We signpost to local and national recording groups, provide support in using recording apps and other ways of sharing data, and provide services free of charge to members of the public, for example to help them fight planning applications. As a sector we need to get better at engaging more people and being more inclusive.