Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement is an essential part of RELU-Biomass. Representatives of the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), East Midlands Development Agency (EDMA), DEFRA (Sustainable Farming Food and Fisheries) and the energy crop industry (Bical and Coppice Resources Ltd) have already participated in supporting and advising us during the development of the proposal and their continued inputs are extremely important to us. In addition Bical and Coppice Resources are also liaising with growers to provide RELU-Biomass staff with access to sites for research and we are grateful to growers who have responded positively to these requests.

In addition, RELU Biomass has an increasing number of stakeholders who have expressed interest in the project. Engagement with this community is particularly important to us as the project develops, especially for the sustainability appraisal. We have already started the process of inviting stakeholders to attend special workshops to discuss objectives, targets and indicators for the sustainability appraisal. A first meeting was organised this year in each of our two study regions on March 9th (SW) and March 20th (E-Midlands) 2006 to hear views on objectives, targets and indicators so that the framework for the sustainability appraisal can be developed with their inputs. The outputs of these meetings will be circulated and any stakeholders who could not attend can have inputs during this consultation phase. We will then test biomass planting scenarios against the objectives and this will also involve consultation with stakeholders, either by again inviting them to meetings or though a paper-based consultation. This stage is likely to involve several iterations where new options are developed and tested until only a few preferred ones will be left. In the final stages of the sustainability appraisal there will be further consultation on the preferred options identified and the report that we have prepared of the sustainability appraisal.

In addition to the engaging in a continued dialogue with stakeholders, RELU-biomass will be carrying out social and economic surveys, which will include hearing views from farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector, rural interest groups, regulatory bodies and residents in areas where energy crop plantings are either present or planned. In these instances, engagement will be via questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.

Stakeholders