Fish Export Service trial period

The service will open for a trial and test phase to allow businesses to sign in, familiarise themselves with the system and create sample documents before it goes fully live on 29 December 2020.

Exporter businesses and fishers who land catch in the EU will be contacted directly inviting them to join the trial and, importantly, provide their feedback. They will be able to test and try the service up to 14 December.

The MMO has expanded its team of specialist advisors and opened a dedicated helpline to provide support and advice. The helpline – 0330 159 1989 – will be open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm from 19 November. It will be open 24/7 when the service goes live.

Any business that has not yet registered can do so now. There is more information and guidance on this link.

Here are a few notes to help users and MMO get the most out of this trial period:

1) If you are registering your company for the first time please follow the registration guidance.

2) If your business is already registered, have to hand the access details that were used – the email address and password.

3) We’re inviting businesses to help us test the Fish Export Service in this final phase of development to ensure we are ready before we go live. In this trial phase, the system may time out if you try to record more than ten different landings on one catch certificate. To avoid the issue while you are testing the system, please ensure you only create catch certificates with no more than ten landings.

4) If you use the Internet Explorer 11 browser, you may receive an error message. You should switch to another browser, such as Chrome or Edge. You may notice some blank fields – you can ignore these and they won’t affect your trial.

5) To ensure you get the most value out of this trial phase, the system will verify data and validate certificates exactly as it will when live, and you may find some may fail. Our extended support team is on hand to help guide you through this or any other issues.

6) If you are unable to access your online account, have any issues relating to registration or the Fish Export Service, or need assisted digital support, you can call our dedicated helpline on 0330 159 1989 Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm from 19 November.

7) Prior to going live at the end of December we will remove all sample documents that have been created.

8) If you are exporting over the Christmas period and are likely to need UK catch certificates 72 hours in advance of the go live date, you will be able to use the existing catch certificate process for exports to third countries and contact MMO for assistance by email on ukiuuccc@marinemanagement.org.uk on 28 December, from 9 am to 5 pm.

134,000 trees to be planted through Urban Tree Challenge Fund

More than 50 projects led by community and volunteer groups, councils and individuals have been awarded a share of a £10 million pot to increase tree numbers in urban areas through small-scale planting projects.

The funding has been awarded as part of the second and final round of the Forestry Commission’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

The second round will result in the planting of over 84,000 trees in towns and cities across England. The new trees will provide benefits to health and wellbeing, connect people with the outdoors, improve biodiversity, as well as play a crucial role in the fight against climate change.

Today’s announcement means that there will be a combined total of up to 134,000 new trees planted across England’s towns and cities, which surpasses the Fund’s original target to plant 130,000 trees.

Successful projects include:

The Darlington Forest project in County Durham, which will extend an existing green corridor in the area with the planting of 6,800 trees to improve the environment for wildlife as well as local communities. The area runs alongside the trackbed of the first passenger steam railway and will help showcase Darlington’s heritage.
7,500 new trees in Eastbourne, East Sussex, to form part of a wider programme of natural environment improvement across the area.
952 new trees across two sites for the Christchurch project in Dorset. The planting of native species will provide a natural traffic noise and pollution buffer, improve their look and provide a refuge for wildlife.
8,234 new trees in Durham which will be planted at a number of locations to extend and link existing woodlands to enhance biodiversity and habitat connectivity, and improve areas of reclaimed land whilst also benefiting local communities.

Sir William Worsley, Chair of the Forestry Commission, said:

Community tree planting is a passion of mine which is why I am so excited to see projects like these benefitting from our Urban Tree Challenge Fund.

Trees give life to our streets and our parks, help improve the health of communities, and provide homes for precious wildlife, and the thousands of new trees that will be planted will bring many benefits for generations to come.

Forestry Minister, Lord Goldsmith, said:

Trees play a crucial role in the fight against the climate and biodiversity loss. In urban areas they can link up our valuable green spaces and connect local communities with nature – something which has never been so important.

Ahead of our forthcoming England Tree Strategy, and to complement our manifesto ambition to have every new street lined with trees, the success of the Urban Tree Challenge Fund provides a fantastic example of how trees can be planted, managed and enjoyed, wherever you live.

Cllr Brian Stephens, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and local partnerships, said:

The funding we have received from the Urban Tree Challenge Fund has been a wonderful opportunity to plant in our county’s urban environment, in places where tree cover is low. Trees are so important – they help to enhance existing green areas, bring back lost open space, support and increase biodiversity, as well as give significant benefits to our own health and wellbeing.

Grants from the Urban Tree Challenge Fund are administered by the Forestry Commission, and successful applicants are match-funding the money they receive. The money will fund the planting of trees and the first three years of their care to ensure they can flourish into the future.

The Government is committed to plant 30,000 hectares of trees a year across the UK by 2025. Our £640m Nature for Climate fund will help us deliver the English portion of this tree planting commitment, alongside peatland restoration and nature recovery. The Prime Minister also recently announced £40 million additional investment into the government’s Green Recovery Challenge Fund – this will go towards creating and retaining thousands of jobs in areas including tree planting, horticulture, and equipment and seed supply.

Today’s announcement comes ahead of National Tree Week, the UK’s largest annual tree celebration, which is taking place between 28 November and 6 December 2020. For more information visit: https://treecouncil.org.uk/take-action/seasonal-campaigns/national-tree-week/

The Forestry Commission will continue to contact additional successful applicants who may be awarded funding in the coming weeks.

AAIB Report: Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000, runway excursion, Liverpool John Lennon Airport

News story

A Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000 suffered a nosewheel steering failure after touchdown, 11 December 2019.

The aircraft, a Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000 (9H-VJM), suffered a nosewheel steering failure shortly after touchdown. During the subsequent landing roll, directional control was lost due to the inadvertent application of right braking and the aircraft departed the runway surface onto the grass.

Read the report.

Media enquiries call: 07814 812293

Published 19 November 2020

Report 14/2020: Passenger train collision with a derailed locomotive at Bromsgrove

Press release

RAIB has today released its report into the passenger train collision with a derailed locomotive at Bromsgrove, 23 March 2020.

The locomotive involved after the accident (image taken looking south, ie towards the direction from which the passenger train approached on the adjacent main line)

Summary

At about 22:44 hrs on Monday 23 March 2020, the 21:05 Cardiff Central to Birmingham New Street service collided with a class 66 locomotive that had derailed at the end of a siding, south of Bromsgrove station. The passenger train suffered significant damage along one side of all three vehicles, although it did not derail. There were four passengers and two crew on board the passenger train and none reported any injuries.

The locomotive had just arrived in the siding and was to act as a ‘banking’ locomotive, assisting heavy freight trains up the 1 in 37 Lickey incline, to the north of Bromsgrove station. It derailed after running through the buffer stop at the end of the siding and came to rest fouling the main line. The driver of the locomotive was not injured in the collision, although the locomotive suffered damage to the corner of the leading cab.

The driver did not stop the locomotive before it reached the buffer stop because he became distracted from the driving task by personal issues arising from the national COVID-19 lockdown announced earlier that evening.

The collision occurred because there was insufficient time between the locomotive derailment and the passenger train’s arrival for the alarm to be raised and the passenger train to be stopped.

Recommendations

RAIB has made one recommendation to Network Rail to review its processes and standards for managing buffer stop collision risk on non-platform terminal tracks.

RAIB has also identified three learning points for drivers, relating to compliance with mobile phone policies in the driving cab, informing signallers of accidents and safe exit from trains during an incident.

Notes to editors

The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.
RAIB operates, as far as possible, in an open and transparent manner. While our investigations are completely independent of the railway industry, we do maintain close liaison with railway companies and if we discover matters that may affect the safety of the railway, we make sure that information about them is circulated to the right people as soon as possible, and certainly long before publication of our final report.
For media enquiries, please call 07814 812293.

Newsdate: 19 November 2020

Published 19 November 2020

Sir John Manzoni announced as Chair Designate for AWE plc NDPB Board

Press release

Following the announcement that the Atomic Weapons Establishment plc will become an Arms-Length Body of the MOD, the Department has decided to appoint Sir John Manzoni as Chair Designate.

Sir John Manzoni has been appointed Chair Designate for AWE plc NDPB Board.

The existing AWE Management Limited (AWE ML) Board will hand over to John and the new Board of the Arms-Length Body following termination on June 30th 2021, the AWE ML Board will continue to lead AWE until that date. While John will be formally appointed as Chair of the Board on 1st July 2021, he will be supporting the MOD in appointing the new Board during the transition period.

John’s extensive regulatory, public and private sector and leadership experience make him well placed to take on this appointment.

The MOD would like to thank the AWE ML Chair, Ian Tyler, for his years of service towards maintaining the UK’s nuclear deterrent and his continued commitment to stewarding the organisation through this crucial transition period.

Published 19 November 2020