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Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

L'înformâtion et les sèrvices publyis pouor I'Île dé Jèrri

Countryside Enhancement Scheme and Ecology Trust Fund (FOI)

Countryside Enhancement Scheme and Ecology Trust Fund (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by Government of Jersey and published on 25 August 2022.
Prepared internally, no external costs.

Request

Please could you provide information on the names of the individuals on the board / decision making process for the:

Countryside Enhancement Scheme

Ecology Trust Fund

How does the decision-making process for these funds take place?

Please can we see what causes have received these funds for the past 3 years, and how much was received.

Response

Countryside Enhancement Scheme 

All projects requesting funding from the Countryside Enhancement Scheme (CES) must submit a project proposal.

Natural Environment officers within the Infrastructure, Housing and Environment department assess and score these proposals in relation to their environmental and financial value.

The CES panel then make the final assessment and decision as to whether a project will receive CES funding.

The CES panel members are selected to reflect the applications received each year and consist of the following:

  • local experts, spanning a variety of subjects, to help clarify any queries and assess the merit of each application
For example, parties from the Société Botany section (Société Jersiaise), those with marine conservation experience or an agricultural background who have been involved with agri-environment schemes
  • officers from the Natural Environment section which includes Marine Resources and Land Resource Management teams plus any other relevant government sections based on the subject of the application.

The CES scheme has provided the following funding over the last 3 years.

Funds distributed by CES in the last 3 years ​ ​
ApplicantBrief descriptionFunds distributed (£) (rounded up)
Individual
Seabed surveys
3,746
National Trust for JerseyReedbed management, winter bird crop seed purchase, wildflower crop creation, hedgerow planting, salary shortfall and conservation grazing fencing120,337
Jersey Biodiversity CentreData management, education, training, research, and public events80,066
Government of JerseyWoodland management, carbon sequestration research and wildflower seed purchase15,969
Sangan Conservation LtdEquipment purchase17,346
Société JersiaiseRamsar management plan2,940
IndividualPond restoration2,631
Jersey National ParkProject management and education25,000
Jersey Royal CompanyEquipment purchase and set up12,000
Samares Manor LimitedEquipment purchase and setup wildflower education hub12,212
Jersey DairySpecies and habitat survey2,500
IndividualHedgerow creation and wildlife corridor2,825
IndividualMeadow and pond management900
IndividualRemoval of invasive species4,961
Jersey Trees for LifeWoodland management and purchase of hedgerow whips4,967
Birdsong GardenLivestock fencing purchase1,175
IndividualHedgerow planting1,360
GROW JerseyEquipment and tree purchases6,116
The ReserveConservation grazing60,000
Total 377,051

The names of the panel members and individual applicants have been withheld under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Ecology Trust Fund

The Ecology Trust Fund (ETF) consists of a Chairperson (the ‘Chair’) and four trustees who each have a voting role. 

The Chair must be an elected member of the States Assembly while the four trustees apply for the role via public invitation.  The trustees are selected via an interview process by the Chair and another trustee with support provided by government officers, if required.

The ETF aims to support local conservation tasks, monitoring work, biological studies and any work the trustees believe to be of ecological and/or environmental importance to Jersey.

The trustees and Chair meet quarterly to discuss and decide which applications the ETF will support and the amounts to be received by each party depending upon the amount of funds available and the number of applications received at that time.

The following table details grant payments that have been made as at 18 July 2022.

Grants distributed by the ETF for the last 3 years as at 18 July 2022 ​ ​ ​
ApplicantBrief descriptionDate grant approved

Amount claimed (£) (rounded up)

Jersey Trees for LifeSite managementOctober 20193,000
Annyctalus EcologyEquipment purchaseOctober 20192,128
Seedy SundayEventNovember 2019732
Sangan Island ConservationEquipment purchaseJanuary 2020294
National Trust for JerseyEquipment purchaseJanuary 20202,678
Individual StudentEquipment purchaseJanuary 2020935
Birds on the EdgeEquipment purchaseJanuary 20201,194
JICAS studentEquipment purchaseMay 202087
JICAS studentTrainingOctober 20201,875
Jersey Biodiversity CentreEquipment purchaseOctober 20201,921
Durrell Wildlife Conservation TrustEquipment purchaseOctober 20201,233
McGugan Family Trust (Charity)Site managementApril 20211,259
JICAS studentEnvironmental studyMay 2021155
JICAS studentEnvironmental studyApril 2021350
National Trust for JerseySite managementAugust 2021875
National Trust for JerseyEquipment purchaseNovember 20212,185
McGugan Family Trust (Charity)Site managementApril 2022683
Total  21,584

It should be noted that the ETF does not always approve the full amount requested and can approve a partial grant.

The applicant does not need to claim the total grant approved and partial payments are sometimes issued once the grant has been approved.

The table only includes grant payments that have been made as at 18 July 2022.

The names of ETF members and individual applicants have been withheld under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)     In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.

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