News from the Secretariat

Quarterly update: July - September 2011

In August Link advertised for an interim Director, to provide cover whilst Jodie Bettis is on maternity leave.  Link is delighted to announce that Dr Elaine King has now been appointed. Elaine has over 15 years of management experience in the third sector and was Chief Executive of The Badger Trust from 1996 to 2006. Elaine is returning to the Link network after serving as the Chair of the Board of Trustees at her local pre-school and raising two children through their early years. We hope you will all give Elaine a warm welcome when she takes over the reins in November. Jodie will be on maternity leave from 28 November 2011 until January 2013.

The release of the Natural Environment White Paper, the England Biodiversity Strategy and the National Planning Policy Framework has highlighted some key Government trends on the environment, which impact across a number of Link’s working groups. In light of this, Link is encouraging collaborative work across all its working groups and held a Chairs and Vice Chairs meeting on 1 September to share policy updates and communicate working group strategies.

On 21 September Link’s Management Committee held its third quarterly meeting of 2011. Discussions focused on the plans for the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) and implementing recommendations of the members’ subscription review. Trustees also looked across the horizon at future policy areas to prepare for the 2012 work plan.

Link’s AGM will take place on 7 December at the British Ecological Society in London. The day will begin with a gathering of the Chairs and Vice Chairs of all Link’s working groups and task forces before the official business of the AGM begins at 15:00. This year the topic for the annual post-AGM debate will be ’sustainable intensification’ of the UK food supply and invited speakers will be exploring this issue from the perspectives of people, wildlife and animal welfare. Invitations and registration forms will be circulated in the next few weeks. For more information on your AGM voting rights, please contact your Link representative.