Natural Resource Wales Stakeholder Meeting

AECoW met with NRW on 7th October 2021. In line with our Strategy, we discussed: The role of an EnCoW and how it can support environmental regulators; The issues around commissioning EnCoWs and the need for contracts to support the the delivery of the role; The importance of impartial, environmental auditing during construction to deliver

IEMA – AECOW Working Group Update & Environment Bill Reforms

At the consultants sub-working group, AECoW highlighted the need for consistent, clear, and effective monitoring roles, and responsibilities, which must be supported by the contracts. AECoW strives for robust, independent EnCoW monitoring (ie. that is paid for by the Client, or Contractor, but commissioned independently, to avoid creating any compromise, or conflict of priorities); effective

HoPS Working Group Update

This group plans to engage with other stakeholders to share knowledge, and inform new EnCoW planning guidance, entitled ‘Good Practice Guide for Compliance Monitoring – For Consenting Authorities. AECoW’s existing guidance for Local Planning Authorites wil be used to inform the new guidance. Stakeholders will likely be contacted for contributions in due course and it

The Biodiversity Crisis & Construction Impacts

AECoW attended a Biodiversity Crisis meeting recently in the run up to COP15 in China in October, hosted by the Scottish Government & NatureScot. We raised the issue regarding the lack of robust, open and transparent compliance monitoring, coupled with limited / ineffective feedback mechanisms (which should respond to monitoring findings). We believe that this

Forestry and Land Scotland

We are delighted to have carried out initial consultation with FLS on 22nd April. We are exploring opportunities with it, whereby we can share good practice, develop training material for affiliate grades, and bring together other key agencies. We are planning a second meeting with FLS in the summer to tie in with the broader consultation

Legal Review

We instructed Freeths LLP to provide legal advice on appointment terms and conditions of EnCoW contracts; and our proposed planning condition. We will share outputs with our Working Groups (to feed into the consultation) and also with our members. This includes two outputs: a validity test of our proposed planning condition which we are seeking

CIEEM & AECoW Consultation Update

We are delighted to announce that we had a positive and productive meeting with CIEEM on 31st March. We are aiming to identify opportunities to collaborate, and support each other, as we continue to define, and develop, the role of an EnCoW whilst they devlop their accredited EcCoW course. We are reviewing it’s unit structure