South West Biography
The South West Division stretches over 200 miles from Gloucestershire in the north to the Isles of Scilly in the far south west and includes Dorset and Wilshire in the east. It is a long widespread division encompassing large areas of rural countryside including many small towns and villages. It is very diverse, with quarrying, mining and agriculture as major industries and there are industrial areas associated with the major cities and ports of Bristol, Plymouth and Gloucester. Other major cities and towns include Exeter, Bath, Taunton, Cheltenham and Swindon. The area is served by a major southwest/northeast railway route and has good rail communications with London. The M4 and M5 are the main road links and there are a number of important regional airports including Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Newquay.
The fact that the division is "long and thin" does create some difficulties as it makes it difficult to hold meetings that are easily accessible to all the membership. As a result of this we have tried to develop a policy of rotating meetings between the North, the Centre and the South of the Division. We also try to rotate the venue of the AGM across the Division to give the opportunity to all members to attend.
We are very grateful to Envirotechnology Services PLC for hosting the 2010 AGM at their officers in Stroud, Gloucestershire. We held a debate over the proposed governance changes led by Chief Executive Officer Phill Mulligan and had a go at experiencing a 'virtual' shooting range, without the negative effects of noise and lead shot!
As is the case with most, if not all, the other Divisions the traditional membership has been the local Authorities in the area although there is now a leavening of members from academe and from small/medium sized consultancies based in the area.
The Division has for many years played an active part at the national level and is particularly well represented on the Air and Noise Committees. Divisional representatives have also played important parts in the development of guidance for Local Air Quality Management.
The Division has strong links with the academic community and, in co-operation with the Air Quality management Resource Centre at the University of the West of England (UWE), has organized many annual conferences. These have covered a range of environmental topics but with particular emphasis on air quality and climate change and have been addressed by many highly regarded experts in the environmental field.
The Division also holds regular, less formal, meetings four or five times a year. Some of these involve visits to sites of particular interest, usually with a tour of the facility. Others are aimed at providing training in specific areas of interest. The Division has also developed a "Student Day". This began in 2005 as an opportunity for post-graduate students at UWE to present their work to the Division with a small prize being awarded to the presentation adjudged to be the "best". Subsequent Student Days were opened up to students from other academic institutions in the South West and in 2008 National Council agreed that the event was worth being taken up nationally.
The South West is again hosting the National Student Research Day on the 13th July 2010 at the University of the West of England. The submissions received cover many different topics, geographical areas and have been submitted by students from all parts of the country. Any member is welcome to attend and listen to these cutting edge research presentations. Each participant receives student membership of the society and a free one year subscription to the electronic handbook. The winner gets an additional book token and the opportunity to 'present' at the annual conference.
The South West 12th Annual Conference will be held at UWE Conference Centre on Tuesday 12th October 2010 with the topic 'Healing the Rift' Health effects of Air Quality and Noise. Speakers will confirm action is needed now both to save lives and meet the standards. Book your place now.
Additional business meetings are yet to be arranged but will be publicised here as soon as details have been fixed.
Contact Pete Fryer, Honorary Secretary, by emailing southwest@environmental-protection.org.uk for more information or call 0117 9223389.