What resources have been allocated to (a) SEPA and (b) other public bodies to tackle non-native invasive plant species in the Scottish Bord…

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) activities are funded through a combination of grant in aid support and charging to recover economic costs of its regulatory actions. These support SEPA’s delivery of its statutory obligations with regard to the delivery of the relevant regulatory requirements such as invasive species. Through the Water Environment Fund (WEF) it is working in partnership with the Rivers and Fisheries Trust of Scotland to implement a strategic national programme of invasives plant control across Scotland. This is funded with up to £100,000 from the Scottish Government per year since 2011. Other public bodies that take action to control non-native plants are mainly Scottish Natural Heritage, who are the overall lead agency for non-native species, and local authorities. The majority of local authority funding, including any funding which councils may wish to allocate for the control of non-native species, is provided by means of a revenue block grant. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including any locally raised funding. They do this on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.
The Scottish Government allocates a budget annually to SNH, in accordance with published spending plans approved by the Scottish Parliament, which they are responsible for managing to fulfil their statutory functions and deliver priorities directly supporting the Scottish Government’s commitments with respect to protecting and improving the natural environment. This includes advice and strategies aimed at addressing non-native species, in their role as lead agency on the issue. Strategic control of invasive non-native plants in the Scottish Borders is delivered through the Tweed Forum. In addition to this, control of some non-native species is directly supported by a number of options in Scotland’s Rural Development Programme. A breakdown of relevant funding is given in the following table:

Tweed Invasives Project
*
Integrated Catchment Management Planning
* (Note that, in any given year, only 5 to 10% of this grant aid was for INNS related work)

SRDP funding ** (awards to all beneficiaries within the Borders Regional Project Assessment Committee area)

2010-11
£ 4,775.22 (SNH)
£49,500.00 (from SEPA WEF)

£64.00 (JK)
£2755.20 (GH)
2011
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
Part funding from the European Union’s INTERREG IVA programme through the CIRB (Controlling Priority Invasive Non-native Riparian Plants and Restoring Native Biodiversity) project

£10,500.00 (from SEPA WEF)
£27,838.97 (SNH)

£64.00 (JK)
£2441.60 (GH)
2012
£14,062.50 (from SEPA WEF)
£20,864.60 (SNH)

£64.00 (JK)
£2441.60 (GH)
2013
£14,312.50 (from SEPA WEF)
£36,563.91 (SNH)

£64.00 (JK)
£2352.00 (GH)
2014
£14,312.50
(from SEPA WEF)

£30,000.00 (SNH)

£2240.00 (GH)

2015
Funding is given for financial years.
SRDP funding is given for calendar years and broken down by plant:
JK = Japanese knotweed, GH = giant hogweed, no awards for Himalayan balsam or rhododendron.