Community consultation report: Kielder

Convery, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2527-5660 , Smith, Darrell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6745-8804 , Brady, Deborah, Hawkins, Sally, Mayhew, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2934-5489 , van Maanen, Erwin, Iversen, Sara, White, Chris, Eagle, Adam and Lipscombe, Steve (2017) Community consultation report: Kielder. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This report is based on consultation work completed on behalf of the Lynx UK Trust (LUKT) in and around the Kielder area from August 2016 to May 2017, and was requested by the LUKT to fit with their timeline for a licence submission to trial a reintroduction of Eurasian lynx (lynx lynx) to the UK. As the planned consultation activities are incomplete, this is presented as an interim report, and conclusions should be considered as tentative. Nevertheless, initial findings point towards a reasonably divided community, with most residents still undecided or unsure regarding the proposed reintroduction of lynx and a small minority either firmly supporting or opposing the project. This position is similar to the results of an independent national omnibus survey conducted as part of a national public survey in respect of the proposed trial lynx reintroduction (Smith et al., 2015). At this point in the local consultation process there has been insufficient communication with those groups likely to be most affected by the project: primarily from the farming and forestry sector (IUCN, 2013:11). This is one of the IUCN’s key social feasibility guidelines (Social Feasibility 5.3.3) and for key areas of project policy, for example around livestock predation compensation schemes and mitigation measures, we would expect to see genuine co-development of policy and protocols with the farming community. This work has started in Kielder but given the controversial nature of this project it will take considerable time and effort to establish a trusting relationship with some of the human communities in and around the Kielder area. As the IUCN (2013:11) indicates, understanding the ‘extreme and internally contradictory attitudes of such key stakeholders provides the basis for developing public relations…orienting the public in favour of a translocation.’ It is our view that any licence application at this stage would be premature and would threaten the longer-term viability of the project.

Item Type:	Report
Departments:	Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA)
Additional Information:	Interim community consultation report: Kielder. Prepared for the Lynx UK Trust. University of Cumbria, UK.
Depositing User:	Ian Convery
Date Deposited:	10 May 2018 12:42
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 18:30
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3802

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