North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC), based in York, has become the first Local Environmental Records Centre (LERC) to become accredited since the pilot LERCs in 2011. The LERC accreditation system was developed by Bill Butcher of WGB Environmental on behalf of ALERC, with support from Natural England. The system is designed to provide an objective set of criteria against which LERCs are assessed to ensure they are able to demonstrate that they operate the best practices possible. The criteria against which NEYEDC were assessed include interacting with local recorders, maintaining adequate data policies and treating all their stakeholders impartially.
By demonstrating that it conforms to best practice, NEYEDC has secured the confidence that people place in it to serve amateur naturalists, professional ecologists, local authorities and national bodies alike. The Director of NEYEDC, Simon Pickles, talked about the effect of accreditation on the centre: “The accreditation system is about more than securing certification, it was an exercise in analysing all that we do as an LERC and seeing if we were doing things as well as we could. We took a list of future development opportunities from the accreditation process and incorporated progression of these developments into our programme of work”.
NEYEDC were keen to take the opportunity to formally demonstrate their use of best practices, as well as to look in depth at areas that could be improved, and so started the accreditation process back in June 2012, when they announced their intention to work towards standard level accreditation. A highly experienced team, comprising the four NEYEDC trustees, was responsible for overseeing and steering the process. These people have many years’ experience in biodiversity and business management, as well as an inside out knowledge of the LERC. The process took approximately six months and involved reviewing the majority of the organisation’s processes and policies.
By the time of the assessment, on the 6th of February this year, a file had been prepared that not only details the recent effort put into consolidating the organisation, but also summarises the twelve years’ worth of working to the highest possible standard. Tony Kelham is the Chair of the NEYEDC Trustees and headed up the accreditation team “I am delighted that, following the pilot exercises, NEYEDC is the first data centre in England and Wales to gain ALERC accreditation. This achievement highlights the superb work of Simon Pickles and the members of his team – and so will come as no surprise to the many people and organisations in North and East Yorkshire already using their services”.
Naturally other LERCs are keen to receive accreditation, and three more are in the pipeline. ALERC is very eager to encourage interest from more LERCs and would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in becoming an accredited LERC.
For more information on accreditation please contact Tom Hunt by email or on 01904 641 631.
Written by Tom Hunt (ALERC National Coordinator), Mark Wills (NEYEDC Ecological Information Officer) and Tony Kelham (NEYEDC Chair of Trustees).