Abi Palmer-Greenwood

Good morning Tom Thank you for your post. Yes, we do monitor Connect and encourage all to post and reply. We are going to be running a new campaign to encourage more to sign up as well so please do encourage your contacts and colleagues to get on board. Many thanks Abi

The National Lottery Heritage Fund are keen to hear LI members' views on their investment priorities over the next 10 years. Since 1996, around 25% of investment has supported landscape, marine, and nature projects. Depending on the outcome of this review, the Heritage Fund could be investing as much as £800 million in the sector. The landscape sector tends to be smaller than the built and museums sectors, so it's crucial that we make our views known. Complete the public strategy survey at heritagefund.org.uk

A new report from the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT) outlines how creating wildlife-rich wetlands in deprived urban communities could help address health and social inequalities associated with lack of access to quality green and blue spaces by relieving stress, lowering temperatures, reducing air and water pollution, alleviating flooding, and improving biodiversity. From wwt.org.uk Read the full article here

Analysing trends across diversity, urban population growth, poverty and inequality, urban economies, green infrastructure, planning, public health, governance, technology, and resilience, UN Habitat's World Cities 2022 report envisions an optimistic post-pandemic future in which urban areas are sustainable and adaptable to future challenges. From unhabitat.org Download the full article here

UK100 - a network of local authorities aiming to shift their communities to net zero ahead of the government’s 2030 target - have published a report analysing the progress made towards delivering climate action through nature restoration a local level in the past year, and recommended actions to progress this work across the UK. From uk100.org Read the full article here

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will award neighbourhoods in England funding to create or improve over 100 local parks. Significantly, the government has allocated the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund based on identified need. Rather than a competitive bidding process, DLUHC has used data from Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Mapping Tool to identify 85 areas – including Liverpool, Birmingham, Carlisle, and 16 London boroughs – where residents have the least access to outdoor space. The pre-selected local authorities will be able to choose where and how to spend their allocated funding. DLUHC has published a prospectus that sets out how the Fund will operate in England. Alongside the announcement, the LI has published a policy briefing on the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill currently making its way through parliament - more on this below. Read more here

New guidance from Homes England, the public body that funds new affordable housing in England, sets out best practice for highway authorities and housing developers in designing healthy streets. From gov.uk Read the full article here

During heat waves, urban areas tend to record the highest temperatures. Many studies have shown that urban forests can reduce the urban heat island effect, and many policies focus their attention on large green spaces - but they often overlook the contribution that small green spaces make to urban cooling. This article from the Conversation looks at examples of how yards, green roofs, and other small vegetated spaces can help reduce local surface and air temperatures. From theconversation.com Readt he full article here

Tuesday 19 July was the UK's hottest day on record, with temperatures hitting a high of 40.3 degrees Celsius. Network Rail closed its East Coast and Midland Mainlines, as the rail network struggled to cope with the extreme weather. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the BBC that it would take 'many years' to upgrade the UK's rail infrastructure to be able to cope with the heat. But could nature-based solutions provide an interim solution? In this study from the University of Glasgow, researchers present nature-based solutions as potential alternatives to current grey engineered adaptation options, and make the argument for further research into the use of green infrastructure in rail. from sciencedirect.com Read the full article here

We have partnered with the London Borough of Barnet (LBB) to launch a two-stage design contest to select an outstanding designer or team of designers to prepare proposals to transform the West Hendon Playing Fields from its current form to an exemplary destination park. The design team should be led by a chartered landscape architect and/or a Landscape Institute registered practice. We're looking for innovative ideas and proposals to work with and take advantage of the unique constraints and opportunities of the site in order to design a transformational greenspace for the local community. LBB intends to award a contract to the winning entrant for the development of the winning scheme, with a total project budget of £18.8m. Entries are open starting from 19 July 2022. Find out more about the competition and how to submit below! Find out more

Hi Cheryl Our London Branch do host events online, I will pass this on to them and ask them to come back to you as I think the may be able to help. Many thanks Abi

Welcome @Adam Yardley I have passed this on to the LI East of England committee as they may be able to help you 🙂

This is great! I know the LI London Branch do some P2C sessions to help canidiates but it's great to see you helping each other on your journey! 🙂

Hi @Jemima Line-Symonds Thanks for your post. I think @Birgit Hontzsch will be able to help you here? Many thanks Abi

Hi Robert Thank you for your post. We will absolutely set up some more specific groups when they are needed but at the moment we need to focus on ensuring the groups we have are being used. We will be holding some more specific marketing campaigns to ensure the membership are encouraged to use the platform, this will be a continuous campaign across all availbale medias. Please do encourage any of your contacts, colleagues and fellow professionals to get involved with LI Connect as that will increase support, information sharing and engagement. I will continue to monitor the platform and will create more specific groups as the membership and conversations build. Many thanks, as always. Abi

The LI is seeking members to join our CPD Panel and ensure our members' practice, knowledge, skills, and techniques are up to date. This voluntary position is a fantastic opportunity to boost your CV, give back to your Institute, and help shape the future of the profession. Read the full details and apply here

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are widely available and have a direct application to landscape, urban design, and planning. They provide innovative survey possibilities: operating in a ‘hover space’ between human scales of landscape observation and low-flying light aircraft, they can provide near-range visual information to complement other sensory data sets. UAVs are a powerful, cost-efficient tool for design, surveillance, and client and public consultation. This new technical information note helps landscape professionals understand the use of UAVs within landscape and systems, and the procurement of UAV services. Read more and download TIN 02/2022 here

Hi Tom I have not had any confirmation that I can sahre others information yet I'm afraid, though I will reply as soon as I have any news. As I mentioned previously, because this is a recruitment process rather than an election we haven't been able to share the details. I have also checked that the application you posted was the one that was assessed fore the position and it appears that the one above was from your previous application, not the latest one. The 2021 application from you included a CV and Personal Statement which is what the decision was based on, as with all the candidates who applied. Many thanks Abi

Good morning Tom Thank you for your post. I wasn't part of the applications process as I wasn't employed by LI at that time but they would have assessed the application that you submitted at that time. Thank you also for shaing your application though please feel free to remove the above post if you do not want that information visable to the other members of LI Connect, as this is an open forum it can be viewed by everyone. I can email and ask them for their permission to share their names, though I will need to fully understand why this information is required and what it will be used for. My request to them will need to be specific about how this information will be used to ensure we are not in any breach of GDPR. I appreciate that it seems like a lot of red tape but we must take GDPR and information security seriously for all our members, partners and stakeholder. Many thanks Abi

Mounting pressure on our skyline and our countryside is generating intense concern about inappropriate high-rise towers and loss of irreplaceable green space. The time has come, argue Create Streets, to revisit traditional intensification, while ensuring that we add to the greenery and biodiversity of our towns and cities. From createstreets.com, read the full paper here

Good morning Tom Apologies for my delayed reply. The decisions were made based on the applications recieved. They were ananysed and discussed by the panel. The 'votes', which I feel may have been the wrong word to use in this instance, were purely a way of scoring the individual appplications. Please accept my apologies that it has seemed more than it was. The scoring was given based on the information provided in all the applications, skillset and experience. I am still unable to confirm who applied due to GDPR but those involved in the process were the Panel as listed on the website, but for ease I have also listed below: Laura Campbell Melanie Croll Rebecca Knight (Chair) Rufus Howard Sarah Gibson Those who's applications were succesful are (also listed on the website): Mary Fisher Sally Marsh I am sorry that you are disatisfied that you were unsuccesful on this occasion but please do apply for future volunteering roles that you find suitable. Kind regards Abi

Good morning Tom Thank you for your post. I hope you are well. As I previously mentioned, this was not an election, simply an application process which is why we are unable to share the details of those who applied to join. As with any other recruitment process, the other candidates information is protected by GDPR and we are not allowed to share it. If the other applicant's want to come forward and introduce themselves, they are absolutely welcome to do so. We do not use elections for appointments to panels and Committees, these appointments are based on an application process and candidates are selected based on meeting the criteria using the appropriate scoring or grading. The names of members of LVIA panel is available publicly, and shown on the website, which you can view here: https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/technical-committee/ As always, I hope this gives some clarity but please do come back to me at any time. Kind regards Abi

Hi Robert As promised, I have now created this forum. You will find it in Town Centre, under Specialisms. Many thanks Abi

🏞 Help us create the first comprehensive, accessible landscape character #database for the UK and Ireland! The LI are excited to announce an open consultation for a collaborative project to review publicly available #LandscapeCharacter assessment information and collate it into a single helpful resource for environmental professionals. The consultation runs from 1 March until 20 June 2022. Find out more and take part: 🖱 here Want to hear more about the project background and benefits to the profession? We're also running a free #webinar on 17 May. If you're interested in this project, be sure to register: 🖱 here

Good morning Robert Thank you for your post and your suggestions. We are somewhat restricted by GDPR which is why we have opt in emails and social media channels but we are constantly running campaigns to encourage more input and participation from everyone. I will of course pass this all back to our internal teams and we will see what we can do to make improvements. With regards to a P2C forum, this is something that we have discussed and will be implementing shortly. I will update you when this has been done. Many thanks again Abi