Progress Report...

27/05/09 15:06

May 2009

A meeting was held at County Hall between Wreck to Reef, Crown Estate, Pavey group Insurance and Helen Heanes and various DCC legal and corporate officers. It was a positive meeting, the outcome being that the officers were put at ease somewhat with regards to potential liability. They will now make recommendations to their executive officers before it is put up to the Cabinet for a final decision.
A meeting with Rachael Waldock of Natural England is held to discuss the requirements and submission of a Baseline Study for the artificial reef site. It is agreed that Natural England will accept a Baseline Study produced by ‘Wreck to Reef. If this can be pulled together using local diving resources this will negate the need to source funding in order to realise this study. It also means that we can conduct the survey immediately.
The education arm of the project was discussed with Rachael and we explained that we would be keen to link the Natural England Under-Sea Landscape campaign with our project, and to that end we had directed our education officer to liaise with Jane Fooks, Portland Schools Academy Manager to stimulate interest in this. Rachael was keen on this idea and said that she would liaise with Karen Mitchell of Natural England, the lady tasked with rolling out this initiative across the country. Positive outcome.
Richard Bull, BBC Technical Diving Expert and Approved Consultant to the TV and Film Industry, who has been involved in the filming of BBC’s Blue Planet and Abyss, has agreed to provide underwater cameras to film video footage of our Baseline Study. Richard has a two week window between scheduled filming which we hope to capitalise on.
Local boats and diving manpower are now being sourced to aid Richard and for the collection of Data for the Baseline Study.
A meeting has been arranged with Richard Drax, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South Dorset, with a view to enlisting his help and influence to help us along.
Gareth Jones is still being encouraged to finalise the Economic Impact Assessment.