Introduction

Isle of Wight Local Records Centre (IWLRC) is a function of the Isle of Wight Council which is undertaken on behalf of and under the supervision of the Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group. The purpose of IWLRC is to collect, collate, manage and disseminate information of known quality on the Isle of Wight’s biodiversity to those who require it, to increase knowledge and understanding, and to enable informed decisions to be made about factors affecting the environment.
As it is hosted by a public authority, IWLRC also has a statutory duty to make environmental information that it holds available to any person that requests it under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. However, the supply of information under the Environmental Information Regulations does not automatically give the requester of the information the right to re-use that information. Separate permission needs to be obtained from the copyright owner, as set out in the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.

In addition, IWLRC follows the seven Data Exchange Principles promoted by the National Biodiversity Network Trust

See Data Access Policy.

Background to the data held by the Isle of Wight Local Records Centre

Data that is held by IWLRC includes both manual and electronically held data, and comes from a variety of sources, including:

• publicly available surveys
• data supplied by the Isle of Wight Natural History and Archaeological Society and other voluntary recording groups and individuals via data exchange agreements, and
• surveys funded by a range of organisations including Isle of Wight Council, Natural England, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency via service level agreements and grants.

The ownership of all information collected under the service level agreements remains the property of the IW LRC Partnership. Data provided by recording organisations and individuals via data exchange agreements remains the property of that organisation or individual and IW LRC can only provide copies of such data to third parties as set out in the individual data exchange agreements.

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 allow for the fact that sensitive information, including that supplied and owned by third parties, is only released after careful consideration of the request and with the consent of all the parties involved. Regulation 12 lists all the exceptions to the duty to disclose environmental information including where “its disclosure would adversely affect – the protection of the environment to which the information relates”. The associated guidance states that information on the location of nesting sites, rare habitats and endangered/protected species may need to be withheld to avoid the risk of damage.

However, the disclosure of such information can also be vitally important to ensure protection of that species or habitat. The presumption of the IWLRC will always be to release data under its control on request unless there is a legal impediment to doing so or the owner of the data has indicated otherwise.

Charging Policy

1. Data Requests from commercial organisations.

See also Section 6 for requests from farmers and other landowners.

Information from IWLRC in itself is free; however IWLRC reserves the right to charge a fee to those engaged in commercial or for-profit work to cover the costs of staff time and overheads for administering the request and retrieving, checking, manipulating and presenting the data. A percentage of the income received is also being redirected to the Isle of Wight Natural History and Archaeological Society in recognition of the data it supplies to the centre.

A minimum of one hour’s staff time will apply to all requests and will be charged at the rate of £120.00 + VAT per hour, followed by half hourly increments at £60.00 + VAT each (current rate April 2017, subject to change). An additional charge of £12.00 + VAT per SINC citation will be applied.

On receiving a completed Information Request Form, IWLRC will conduct a brief initial search to check relevant data exists within the search area. If no relevant data exists within the search area, then the fee may be waived.

A quote will be provided within five working days of receiving a completed Information Request Form. Data will normally be supplied within ten days of the enquirer confirming they still wish to proceed. If no response to the estimate is received after 15 working days (from the date the quote is sent) it will be assumed that the data requester not longer wishes to proceed with the data request.

Please note therefore;
Once an Information Request Form has been submitted and if payment is due, an invoice will be issued at the rates given above unless no relevant data exists. Requestors are invited to contact IWLRC before submitting an Information Request Form if they would like to discuss any aspect of their data request.

2. Exemptions to charges

No charges will be made for requests for information from the following individuals and organisations, except where additional printing costs are incurred which IWLRC would otherwise be expected to cover:

• Members of the public for non-profit making private study, research and local interest projects.
• Students and Council funded educational establishments.
• Voluntary non-profit making organisations, community groups, charities and parish councils.
• The Isle of Wight Council.
• Other organisations, including recording groups, who have either service level agreements or data exchange agreements with IWLRC.

Charges may also be waived for the supply of data to projects that are of direct benefit to the work of the IWLRC Partnership.

3. Office visits

A data requester may come into the IWLRC office by prior appointment to examine any hard copy survey data free of charge. If copies of the data are then required, or they wish to examine electronically held data, then charges for staff time as set out previously will apply.

4. Basic data searches

The following types of data can be supplied:

• Provision of maps from the GIS for a given search area, with supporting data. The maps can be either in hard copy, .jpg or .pdf format and can show designations, or habitat data, depending on the nature of the request. Supporting text will include details of the designations, and habitat types shown.

• Output from MapMate listing notable and protected species found within the search area.

Since fees cover the staff time taken to retrieve and compile the above types of data, the fee is, therefore, dependant on the size of the search area, the type/s of information required and the amount of information, where it exists (subject to sensitivity status), within the particular search area. As a rough guideline, an average request for designated sites and notable/protected species information within a 1km radius of a specified grid reference normally takes one hour to complete and a 2km radius search would take twice this time.

5. Supplying citations for Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs)

Any boundary information on SINCs always includes the designation criteria, however, if a fuller summary of a site’s interest is required, then a full SINC citation may need to be prepared. When preparing and supplying citation information for SINCs, a charge rate of £12.00 plus VAT per citation will be applied.

6. Supply of data direct to landowners

If IWLRC is providing additional relevant biodiversity data (including maps of designations, priority BAP habitats and species both on the landowners land and nearby) for supporting a planning application then charges will apply as for other commercial bodies, see Section 1.

April 2017

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