Conference 2024

What Green Financing for the Uplands can do for Business

12th & 13th September

The Crescent Hotel, Buxton

Schedule and site visit information

Information

- conference schedule plus links to presentations

- about the site visits

- contact us

- hotels

Schedule

Day 1 - Conference - Thursday 12th September

08:30 - Registration and coffee/tea/refreshments

09:00 - You will be asked to take your seat

09:15 - Conference begins

09:20 - Welcome by Moors for the Future Partnership

Ginny Priestley, Chair of Moors for the Future Partnership
Matt Scott-Campbell, Partnership Manager of Moors for the Future Partnership

09:35 - Video address: Liv Garfield, Chief Executive of Severn Trent

09:40 - Video address: Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England

09:50 - Outcomes of the Moor Water project - discussion of a 5 year project to restore parts of the Peak District nearing completion

Bryony Harrison, Biodiversity Project Manager at Severn Trent
Tony Price, Business Development Manager, Moors for the Future Partnership
The project team: conservation & land management, science & monitoring and communications

10:20 - comfort break - tea/coffee/refreshments

10:50 - Combs Moss – a case study in natural capital financing

Matt Scott-Campbell, Moors for the Future Partnership Manager
Graham Osborn, Principal Ecologist, Severn Trent
Hayley Lloyd House, External & Internal Communications Manager, Nestlé Waters Zone Europe
Alex McDonald, Strategic Senior Flood Risk Management Advisor for the East Midlands Environment Agency

11:45 - Defra Peatland Strategy - Sion McGeever, Deputy Director for Access, Landscapes, Peatlands and Soil at Defra

12:20 - A Farming Perspective - Rachel Hallos, Vice President NFU

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12:45 - lunch break - hot & cold buffet

13:45 - Investing in nature is good for business - Yorkshire Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent

Jason Rogers, Head of Water Quality & Environment, Severn Trent
Mike Pearson, Senior Portfolio & Partnerships Manager, Land & Property Yorkshire Water Services
Sarah Jenner, Head of Catchment Planning, Conservation and Partnership Assets Management, United Utilities

14:30 - Payment for ecosystem services: A farming perspective - Rachel Hallos, Vice President, NFU

Renée Kerkvliet-Hermans - Peatland Code Manager, IUCN UK Peatland Programme
Rachael Bice, Great North Bog chair, CEO, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

15:15 - comfort break - tea/coffee/refreshments

15:30 - Landscape Recovery in the Peak District and South Pennines

Suzanne Fletcher, Head of Landscape and Engagement, Peak District National Park
Morridge Hill Country Project
Craig Best, General Manager, National Trust High Peak.
High Peak Nature Recovery Project
Adrian Barraclough, AKB Environmental.
Calder and Colne Landscape Links (CCaLL) and Nature’s Holme Projects

16:15 - Looking to the future: Phil Mulligan, CEO of Peak District National Park Authority

16:30 - Closing film

16:45 - Closing address: Ginny Priestley, Chair of Moors for the Future Partnership

17:00 - 19:00 drinks reception and a chance to chat (first drink provided plus bar to purchase additional drinks)

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Feel free to network throughout the day or speak to the Moors for the Future Partnership team who will be on hand to answer any of your questions

Displays detailing the work involved in the Moor Water partnership between Moors for the Future and Severn Trent will be situated around the venue

Guided walk around restoration sites

Day 2 - Site Visits - 13th September

On the Friday we have arranged Conservation Works Officer guided site visits to local restoration sites at Combs Moss and The Roaches.

Combs Moss will be lead by Dewi Jackson and The Roaches by Jim Randle.

Your place on a site visit has already been allocated. We will display a list of who is on which on the information board at the conference

On the visit you will see the restoration works, understand the landscape and the funding and have a chance to ask the team any questions and feel inspired about what is possible in partnership.

A minibus will collect you from outside The Crescent Hotel at 10:00 and drive you to the site. It will drop you back off at The Crescent between 13:00-13:30

You will be given a packed lunch to eat (sandwich, crisps & cake), but do bring your own drinks/water bottle.

A waterproof jacket and waterproof footwear are essential - waterproof walking boots or wellies are best.

You will be walking across open moorland and so the terrain will be uneven and wet.

The site visit will last approximately 3 hours.

All places are now allocated but if you haven't replied yet to say you'd like to attend a site visit please speak to Emma Shaw (contact details below)

THE ROACHES

The Roaches is an iconic and much loved area in the Peak District that is well used by many local communities including walkers, families and climbers.

Here Moors for Future Partnership are working with Natural England and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust to deliver blanket bog restoration.

Restoration work also attracted match funding from United Utilities, Severn Trent, National Trust, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and BMC Access and Conservation Trust.

It is owned by the Peak District National Park Authority, is managed by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and is within the catchment waters for Severn Trent Water. Additionally, it lies within the Leek Moors SSSI, the South Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation, the Peak District Moors Special Protection Area, and the Peak District National Park.

A significant wildfire occurred in 2018 at the Roaches, resulting in loss of vegetation from an area of approximately 62 hectares from both the central plateau of bog and the dry heath on the slopes. Though regrowth has been strong, coverage is variable across the site. Differing proportions of bare peat are still left exposed and dispersed in patches between vegetation.

The main restoration priorities at the Roaches are to stabilise and re-vegetate the remaining areas of bare peat, reduce peat sediment loss, enhance water retention, increase the coverage of key peat-forming sphagnum species, and reduce fire risk.

COMBS MOSS

As you will hear discussed at the conference, this project has been financed by Nestlé Waters UK, Severn Trent, The Environment Agency and the Harris & Sheldon Group.

Key outcomes include the regeneration of local water cycles through nature-based solutions that provide benefits to both the water and the community, to help slow the flow and reduce the impact of flooding to communities through Natural Flood Management by enhancing the already good quality moor and to improve the diversity and abundance of wildlife on the moor, and enhance the natural carbon storage that good quality peatland is able to provide.