ACTIVITY REPORT

Please submit this Activity Report together with the Payment Claim for the same six-month Phase. Please enclose all supporting documents listed as annexes in your Activity Report.

I.  GENERAL PROJECT DATA

Project Number: / CB023
Project Title: / ESPACE: European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events
Lead Partner Name: / Hampshire County Council
Country: / United Kingdom
Start Date: / 2/10/01
End Date: / 31/06/07

II.  REPORTING PHASE

Activity Report Number: / 4
Total Number of Phases: / 9
Date of Submission: / 30/06/05
Reference Date: / 01/11/04 – 30/04/05


III. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Boxes can be expanded, but please do not use more than two pages for the Executive Summary.

Summary of the main activities and outcomes. This section should also be used to report on the experience and added-value of working transnationally. It should also include problems encountered and the ways they were overcome.
This Activity Report covers six months of Project implementation from 1st November 2004 through to the 30th April 2005. As mentioned in the previous activity report, the ESPACE Partnership and the working relationships within it are now well established. This has allowed for a considerable level of transnational exchange during the last six months.
There have been a number of partner events such as the 1st ESPACE International Technical Conference, the 3rdESPACE Workshop and the Thames Barrier partner meeting all of which have provided opportunities for transnational discussions and working, and identification of new areas of collaboration. There has also been a greater exchange between individual partners using the ESPACE website and e-mail to exchange reports, ideas, and continue to develop joint work and actions.
There are now several examples of where exchanges between partners has helped to develop pieces of work to ensure maximum benefit across the partnership, such as the work ongoing on the Decision Testing Tool and Case Studies. Influences of some pieces of work have also gone beyond the obvious links and have started to influence other areas. For example, the behaviour change work has influenced the type of policies included within the South East Plan. This demonstrates how the transnational outcomes of ESPACE will be cross-cutting and pull together the various sectors/topics to deliver integrated solutions to adaptation to climate change within spatial planning.
Extended Partners have continued to be engaged in ESPACE through the website and through attendance at ESPACE events. Partners have also begun to develop individual connections with relevant Extended Partners to help further develop their work and also to provide added value where possible.
Some of the main activities during the last six months include:
1.  1st ESPACE International Technical Conference
2.  3rd ESPACE Joint International Workshop and Project Management Team Meeting.
3.  Thames Barrier Partner Meeting
4.  WSCC & RLZZZ surveys finalised and results analysed
5.  Decision Testing Tool pilot complete in Thames Estuary
6.  Norm Study finalised
7.  Case studies collected & report finalised
The International Technical Conference took place on November 29th 2004 in Brussels. The purpose of this conference was to exchange information and experiences on adaptation to climate change and how it can be incorporated into spatial planning systems across Europe. The event was extremely successful with over 60 delegates attending from across the ESPACE Partnership and Extended Partnership. The guest speakers at this event represented experts from across Europe including representatives from the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, and various academic/research institutes in Britain, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.
Also during this reporting period, the ESPACE Project held its 3rd Joint International Workshop and Project Management Team Meeting in Antwerp, Belgium from the 6th to the 8th of April 2005. This workshop provided an important forum for the partners to begin discussions on the delivery of the overall outputs of the ESPACE Project including: progress in their delivery; identification of the gaps and opportunities; mechanisms required to deliver the outputs; and the key transnational benefits of the outputs to both the ESPACE Partnership and North West Europe.
A transnational meeting between ESPACE partners involved in developing models and tools took place at the Thames Barrier in London in February 2005. This event initiated a joint analysis of tools and models being developed within the ESPACE project, so that strengths, weaknesses and transferability could be scoped. The event also included a tour of the Thames Barrier.
The membership of the Extended Partnership continues to grow and as of 30th April 2005 included 110 members. Recruitment for and engagement with the Extended Partnership will continue to be a priority for the ESPACE Project and partners.
All partners have been continuing to deliver on the Common Actions - including Raising Awareness, Strategy & Policy Review through use of innovative techniques, the development of Tools and Models and the implementation of Case Studies.


IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION PLAN

Please fill in one box per action as listed in the Action Plan of your Application Form. Copy and paste the boxes for as many actions as you have to report on. Boxes can be expanded, but please do not use more than 2 pages per action.

Action Number / Action Title
(according to the Action Plan) / Planned Results/Outcome
(according to the Action Plan)
1.3 / Establish Good Project Management Practices / Project Handbook
Description of how the action was implemented
Health Check visits to all remaining partners of the ESPACE Project - Bayerisches Landesamt fur Wasserwirtschaft (LFW), Surrey County Council (SCC), Environment Agency (EA) and West Sussex County Council (WSCC) have been scheduled to take place during June, July and August 2005 in accordance with the project handbook guidelines. These are the third and final set of health checks of the ESPACE project partners since its inception in September 2003.
The objective of the Health Checks is to focus on the accounting and claim systems operating at each partner to ensure that claims submitted by partners are accurate, appropriately recorded and monitored, and that partners have established ESPACE project financial management systems that meet the requirements of the INTERREG IIIB Programme.
Description of the concrete results/outcomes achieved
Health checks planned
Justification for any deviation from the original Action Plan
N/a
Supporting annexes (submitted with this report)
No. / Title/Label / Comment
Action Number / Action Title
(according to the Action Plan) / Planned Results/Outcome
(according to the Action Plan)
1.6 / Set up communications network and mechanisms for Extended Partnership / E-mail discussion group and web based bulletin specifications
Description of how the action was implemented
The Extended Partnership continues to grow. We do not anticipate that there will be an end date for recruitment of Extended Partners, but that it will be an ongoing process throughout the Project. Recruitment has continued by all partners during the last six months. A further drive for recruitment will take place at Green Week 2005 (see Action 3a.1f)
As of the end of April 2005, there were 110 members in the Extended Partnership.
Description of the concrete results/outcomes achieved
List of Extended Partners April 2005
Justification for any deviation from the original Action Plan
N/a
Supporting annexes (submitted with this report)
No. / Title/Label / Comment
1 / Extended Partnership List 300405
Action Number / Action Title
(according to the Action Plan) / Planned Results/Outcome
(according to the Action Plan)
1.10 / Website / Website on-line
Description of how the action was implemented
The website is constantly updated to ensure that information is up to date and new items posted up as soon as they are available. This includes outputs developed by partners and extended partners, notices of upcoming events and meetings and requests for information.
New pages have been added to the partners’ & extended partners’ intranet sites including partner meetings/workshops pages and a new layout to the library pages.
An electronic application form for joining the extended partnership has also been added to the website to make it easier for interested organisations to join up.
The ESPACE website is an essential tool in both promoting and delivering the Project. It provides detailed information on the Project as well as a tool for engaging with a range of stakeholders.
A tracking system to record the number of visitors to the website has also been set up. Figures show a steady increase in numbers over the past 6 months from November 04 to April 05.
Description of the concrete results/outcomes achieved
www.espace-project.org
Justification for any deviation from the original Action Plan
N/a
Supporting annexes (submitted with this report)
No. / Title/Label / Comment
2 / Visitors to ESPACE website
Action Number / Action Title
(according to the Action Plan) / Planned Results/Outcome
(according to the Action Plan)
3a.1a / Stakeholder analysis / Reports on stakeholder analysis and recommendations
Description of how the action was implemented
A number of partners are undertaking activities to identify relevant stakeholders and levels of awareness with regards to adaptation to climate change and spatial planning.
Over the course of the last year, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) (who are leading on raising awareness actions within the ESPACE Project) appointed consultants (Rosslyn Research) to undertake a survey of the current level of awareness of climate change amongst the community of West Sussex. The full report of the baseline awareness survey has been published and translated into Dutch and German, and is now available on the ESPACE website (Annex 3,4,5).
This action was of particular interest to Regionaal Landschap Zenne, Zuun en Zonien (RLZZZ) as the stakeholders that the RLZZZ deal with do not yet recognise climate change as a real threat. Through discussions between WSCC and RLZZZ it was felt that the best way to maximise the transnational benefits of this work was to extend the work to include a survey within Belgium. To achieve this, meetings were held between WSCC, RLZZZ and the consultants in Brussels in February 2005, to plan the methodology and prepare the questionnaire (Annex 6).
This survey is now also complete and a report has been produced that compares and contrasts the awareness of the populations in West Sussex and the Pajottenland area of Belgium (Annex 7).
The RLZZZ survey showed us that people are well informed about climate change. But the problem of climate change is too big and too abstract for people to do something about. Although Belgian people are well informed, the awareness levels and the concerns about climate change are much lower than those observed for West Sussex.
The results of the RLZZZ survey were presented at the 3rd ESPACE Workshop (see Action 3.7 & 3.8 for further details and analysis).
Hampshire County Council (HCC) as a partner commissioned consultants to undertake some work on how the County Council can assist the people of Hampshire to take appropriate action in response to the challenge of climate change while meeting the Council’s objectives. It is clear that public bodies potentially have much to offer, but there is little consensus on how best to do that.
While the research covers both mitigation and adaptation issues, it was intended to be helpful both to HCC and to ESPACE partners and the wider ESPACE process.
The work began with an extensive literature review (with other experience and knowledge base development) from which to develop the work that reviewed existing knowledge, understanding and practice on the topic of behaviour change.
As part of the initial research a number of internal managers (‘officers’) and county councillors (‘members’) within HCC and the South East of England Regional Assembly (the Assembly) were interviewed. Almost all of whom were working on climate change issues in at least part of their role.
In addressing the project, we first looked broadly at the county and at the issues involved in behavioural change for climate change and related issues. We then focused on a number of specific sectors where action might be targeted within the county. The selection of sectors was built on a) on interviews with representatives of HCC, b) on a desk review of the issues that are particularly relevant to the county and c) on the outcome of the initial stakeholder review. We then went on to test the emerging conclusions and to identify specific approaches that might be expected to help stimulate appropriate action at the end of the project and so test the validity of initial conclusions.
All ESPACE partners are involved in the work in order to maximise transnational value and draw upon best practice examples. ESPACE partners were involved in the work by a) by asking for introductions to local case studies and other relevant contacts (including within their own organisations), b) by seeking their expertise on and understanding of this issue, and c) by asking Partners to comment on the conclusions by commenting on the draft report. This report is still in draft form and the responses from ESPACE partners have not yet been compiled (Annex 8).
HCC presented the results of this work at the 3rd ESPACE Workshop (see Actions 3.7 & 3.8). This has helped introduce the concepts of the report to the ESPACE Partnership (and a selection of the Extended Partnership) prior to their input into reviewing the draft report. There was a lot of interest from ESPACE partners, and this will lead to considerable transnational working that will contribute to the overall ESPACE recommendations. Considerable work has already taken place with ESPACE Partners SECCP & WSCC, and this will be rolled out to all partners in the next reporting phase.
The report which is currently in draft form is awaiting ESPACE partners’ input, following which an executive summary will be added. This is a crucial area in the communication of the report’s findings and has been left until all other views have been taken on board before it is produced.
Engaging with stakeholders is of great importance to ensure there is effective water management in the role of Bayerisches Landesamt fur Wasserwirtschaft (LFW). If the interests of stakeholders with high influence are not considered, they may try to block the project or not contribute to it. Water management is a very sensitive issue and therefore LFW have undertaken an assessment of the stakeholders of importance and influence to their work. They have also discussed with the local water agency, and other organisations, the relevance of stakeholders whose needs can be addressed and together have developed a list of the most relevant stakeholders that they would like to contact and convince to contribute to their project (Annex 9).