Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside for Northern Ireland (CNCC)

Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (CNCC)
1st Floor, Calvert House 23
Castle Place
Belfast BT1 1FY
Northern Ireland, BT1 1FY
United Kingdom
Tel. + 44 28 9054 835 / 744
Fax + 44 28 9054 4856
secretariat-hillst@doeni.gov.uk

www.cnccni.gov.uk 


Current and Future Activities

Establishment and Mission

Council Members and Staff Members

Working Style

List of Selected Publications 


Current and Future Activities

Present Priority Fields

Marine and Coastal

Planning and Landscape

Renewables and Waste

Agri-environmental policy

Access and amenity

Ecosystems and designations

Future Priority Fields

Past Priority Fields

Planning and Landscape:

Renewables and Waste 

Access and amenity 

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Background and Mission

Establishment

The CNCC was established in 1989 under the provisions of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1989. Its statutory role is also covered by the provisions of The Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002.

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Mission

The council advises the government on many issues relating to nature conservation and the protection of the countryside such as planning and landscape issues including National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; designation of Areas of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves; protection of wildlife species and other nature conservation issues both terrestrial and marine.

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Council Members

CNCC is made up of 18 members who cover a wide range of environmental expertise and experience throughout Northern Ireland. Membership of the Council is sought through public advertisement and appointments are ratified by the Minister for the Environment. The term of appointment is for a three year period, but members might be eligible for a re-appointment subject to satisfactory service. However, members can have an option for a further period in competition with other applicants. 

Chair

Mr Patrick Casement

 

Farmer, Member of the Board of Trustees of the National Trust, Chairman of the National Trust in Northern Ireland, Chairman of the Cushendun Building Preservation Trust

Deputy Chair

Mr Peter Archdale

member of the Ulster Widlife Trust, Woodland Trust.Lough's Agency Forum, Northern Ireland Coastal and Marine Forum and the Camphill Communities, with a wide experience of Oceanography.

Mr John H Anderson  Self-employed engineer
Dr Tony Bazley Chartered Geologist. Chief Editor, Earth Science Ireland Magazine and President of the Belfast Geologists' Society
Mr Brian Black Specialist television producer dealing with natural history and countryside issues
Mr James Campbell Senior Environmental Health Officer
Mr Malachy Campbell Policy Officer in WWF Northern Ireland
Mr Mervyn Hill Education advisor
Dr Richard Horton Currently Managing Director of CRL a food technology company. Member of the Institute of Material, Minerals and Mining and member of the Institution of Electrical & Electronic Engineering.
Mr Dermot Hughes Environmental Consultant
Mr James Jackson Retired Town Planner/Northern Ireland Housing Executive Manager
Dr Hilary Kirkpatrick Policy Officer in the Ulster Wildlife Trust
Mrs Elizabeth McCullough Retired Civil Servant, formerly Head of Natural Heritage in the Environmental Policy Division of the DOE
Mr Samuel McGregor Former Director of Leisure and Tourism with Limavady Borough Council he is a member of Limavady Sports Council and member of Westport Twinning Association.
Mr Robert Northridge Vice-Principal – grammar school. Chairman of Fermanagh Naturalists’ Field Club
Mr James Simpson Farmer, Formerly employed by Ulster Farmers Union and Ballymoney Borough Council
Professor Bernard Smith Professor of Physical Geography at Queens University Belfast. Member of the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group, the NI Advisory Panel of SUSTRANS, Giant's Causeway WHS Management Committee, Vice Chair, British Society of Geomorphology
Mr Andrew Upton Director of Nature Conservation, Ulster Wildlife Trust. Former Ulster Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves Manager, JNCC offshore marine Surveyor, National Trust Warden - Farne Islands. He has 30 years experience of Natural History fieldwork specialising in Ornithology.

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Staff Members

There are 3 Secretariat staff. The offices of the Council are located in a government building. It should be noted though that CNCC is an independent statutory advisory body.

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Work Style

Tasks of the Council

The Council's functions set out in the (above mentioned) areas of legislation can be summarised as follows:

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Substructure and Working Groups

The Council established six Working Groups (WG) to consider a more detailed analysis and assessment of the state of our environment. In some instances this has resulted in the preparation of position statements:

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Type of Advice

The CNCC advice feeds to the Government mostly through the new NI Environment Agency, an Agency of the Department of the Environment, and in response to various government consultations. It may also have direct access to the Minister of the Environment through meetings and correspondence.

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Council Meetings

The main Council meets once every two months with ad hoc meetings of Council and its working groups throughout the year to deal with specific issues. Proposed dates of Council meetings for the year 2009 are: 8th/9th January, 6th March, 8th May, 26th June, 3rd/4th September and 6th November. There are no dates for the ad hoc meetings since they can be arranged for any date.

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Activities in the EEAC Network

CNCC joined EEAC in 2008. It is represented the EEAC working groups Energy and Biodiversity, and an observer in the working groups Marine and Governance.

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List of Selected Publications

You can search for the full list of policy advice in the EEAC  Search Engine which also includes the titles in English of publications available in original language only.

The Council will from time to time issue position papers and reports and responds to consultation documents. Our current position papers are as follows: 

 

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Last updated: 20 May 2010.