The
Settlements Group, a dedicated team within the Awareness and Involvement
Unit, will coordinate SNH involvement in the GfCI and lead liaison with
Greenspace Scotland and key partners.
SNH
Area offices will contribute through their involvement in local
greenspace partnerships and by acting as the points of contact for
partners locally.
An
internal Steering Group, bringing together staff from across SNH Units,
will advise on SNH's activities in the planning and delivery of the
GfCI. Annex 3 sets out the remit of the Steering Group.
The Steering Group will oversee the monitoring and reporting of the
GfCI, including that related to the funding from the New Opportunities
Fund, and coordinate the performance and policy reviews programmed for
2004 and 2006.
Together this
commitment represents a significant staff resource to coordinate the
management of the GfCI, and plan its future development. Figure 3
summarises internal networks for coordinating involvement in the GfCI.
Figure 3 – SNH networks
supporting GfCI
A network of
agreements between key partners in the GfCI set out relationships and
define responsibilities (Annex 4). At their core are
agreements between SNH and Greenspace Scotland, and Greenspace Scotland
and their members. The SNH/Greenspace Scotland Framework Agreement, and
a similar agreement with Glasgow and Clyde Valley Greenspace Trust, set
out the formal relationship between the organisations, including:
· arrangements needed to satisfy SNH’s accountability
for funding;
· roles of partners, and the role of SNH’s nominated
Director to Trust boards;
· financial arrangements and conditions for SNH and New
Opportunities Fund funding.
SNH will work
with Greenspace Scotland to evaluate the GfCI. We will lead performance
reviews of the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Greenspace Trust and Greenspace
Scotland in 2004 and 2005 respectively. A policy review in 2006 will
examine whether the structures and management arrangements at a national
and local level continue to be an effective framework for delivering
policy objectives and whether they offer value for money for SNH and its
partners. The outcome of this review will help shape the development of
the GfCI beyond its current 5 year period, including the preparation of
a second Business Case in 2006.
Detailing the
policy and operational context of the GfCI, and the roles of SNH and its
partners, has enabled us to examine how we can work to achieve the GfCI
vision. We have identified six key areas for our involvement in the
GfCI:
1. Build
commitment to, and sustain, the GfCI by working with Greenspace
Scotland and others to raise awareness of the GfCI, promoting its
achievements, and encourage the incorporation of the principles
underlying the GfCI into policies and practices across SNH and its
partners;
2. Develop
capacity within SNH to ensure that all staff involved in the GfCI have
the skills and knowledge required to meet our commitments to Greenspace
Scotland and the local greenspace partnerships;
3. Work
with Greenspace Scotland and local greenspace partnerships to enable
key partners to engage with the GfCI, fulfilling a variety of roles that
strengthen and develop the ability of Greenspace Scotland and its
members to deliver the GfCI mission;
4. Ensure
transparency and accountability of all resources committed to the GfCI
by SNH and its partners;
5. Establish
agreed, realistic and measurable targets for Greenspace Scotland and
local greenspace partnerships, and review the progress of the GfCI
against these;
6. Ensure
benefit for the natural heritage in and around Scotland’s towns and
cities.
These have been
used to develop a Greenspace
for Communities Initiative Action Plan, setting out our objectives,
targets and timescales for each key area. This will be used as a
management tool to guide our involvement in the GfCI, and to monitor its
progress.
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