About

History

The Trust was established on 1st August 1998 as the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Trust. The original board of Trustees comprised Peter Fattorini, Michael Thompson, Jack Lavin (Chair) and Jeffrey Lunn (Secretary).

By a Deed of Trust dated 18th January 2006 the name of the Trust was changed to the Yorkshire & Humber Ecological Data Trust (charity number 1075999).

Board of Trustees

The membership of the board of Trustees is drawn from a range of backgrounds with expertise in Ecology, Business and Finance, Town and Country Planning, and Conservation

Tony Kelham (Chair) - appointed in 2000
Born in Sheffield, I was educated at All Saints’ Totley and King Edward VII School, Sheffield and then Keble College, Oxford. A Geography graduate, I later became a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Ever a local government officer, I worked in Wiltshire, Lindsey, Humberside and North Lincolnshire, mainly on town and country planning, environmental issues and community safety.

In Humberside, we needed both to protect the environment of the Humber Estuary and to promote economic growth. This experience convinced me of the importance of good ecological information. So when Jeff Lunn asked me to join the Trust I was very pleased to do so.

As a Trustee I have been particularly impressed by NEYEDC’s joint work with other Local Ecological Record Centres to supply clients with information covering the whole of Yorkshire.

Now retired, and home alone, Maureen and I still live in East Yorkshire. We belong to Beverley Minster Parish Church, which is starting work on the A Rocha eco-church survey. This will help us celebrate what we are doing to care for the environment and decide what to tackle next.

Jeff Lunn (Secretary) - appointed in 1998
Jeff Lunn has worked for over 35 years across Britain as a professional nature conservationist, mostly for Natural England and its predecessors and from 1994 to 2014 as one of their regional area managers. Prior to that, he worked as a research biologist and nature reserve warden for the RSPB and in the private sector in scientific publishing. He has led programmes for the designation of land for nature conservation including the majority of the moorland SSSIs in Yorkshire, SPA and SAC programmes including the Humber estuary and has managed agri-environment scheme delivery, planning casework, implementation of wildlife law and the Habitats and Birds Directives, the development of partnerships, funding bids and networks to deliver restoration, enhancement and creation of habitats.

Jeff has chaired the Yorkshire & Humber Biodiversity Forum, the Humberhead Levels Partnership, and the Dearne Nature Improvement Area Steering Group and was a Board Member of the Humber Industry & Nature Conservation Association (now the Humber Nature Partnership) and Pennine Prospects, a not-for-profit company and partnership working across the South Pennines. He has also been a member of many Partnership Boards such as the South Yorkshire, Hull & East Riding, Humber and South Pennines Local Nature Partnerships (LNPs).

Now working freelance, he is Chairman of the Garganey Trust, Secretary/Vice-Chairman of the Yorkshire & Humber Ecological Data Trust, Chairman of the Dearne Valley Green Heart Steering Group and a member of the Forestry & Woodland Advisory Committee for Yorkshire & the Humber. A native of Barnsley, Yorkshire, he has a lifelong interest in, detailed knowledge of and passion for, the wildlife of Yorkshire.

Andrew Barker - appointed in 2007
Andy Barker holds a BSc in Geography from Kingston Polytechnic. Following graduation Andy took a position within Bradford Metropolitan Council as a graduate Ecologist. This involved habitat and botanical surveys of extensive areas of the Yorkshire Pennines and Yorkshire Water’s landholding in the uplands. Following promotion Andy was responsible for providing ecological advice to planners, countryside managers and estate managers within the five West Yorkshire local authorities and was also responsible for managing the Biological Records for West Yorkshire including further collection of data and maintenance of the existing database.

In 1998 Andy joined Bullen Consultants (who merged with Faber Maunsell and latterly AECOM) as Principal Ecologist carrying out and project managing ecological and wider Environmental Impact Assessment projects throughout the UK including Highways, windfarm and flood alleviation schemes. Andy was the Environmental lead for the recently completed A1 Dishforth to Barton upgrade road scheme, taking the scheme through the planning process including acting as expert witness for Ecology.

Andy moved into business management in 2010, responsible for the operational efficiency of various parts of the Environment business. This culminated in 2016 as Andy being appointed AECOM’s Managing Director for the Environment and Ground Engineering Business in UK and Ireland. Andy also sits on the AECOM UKI executive leadership team.

Andy is married with two boys and in his spare time enjoys spending time outdoors, maintaining a keen interest in wildlife and in particular plants and habitats.

Philip Butler - appointed in 2010
Philip Butler spent his early years in Bradford. He holds an MA in English Literature and Language from Oxford.

Now retired, he spent his working life in the brewing, pub and hospitality industry with Allied Breweries, where he progressed through a number of roles in sales, estate management and marketing, culminating in appointment as Managing Director of Joshua Tetley and Son in Leeds in the late 1980s. This was a business with a turnover of £300m, a thousand employees and the world's foremost ale brand.

Whilst at Tetleys Philip was also a director of Allied Breweries and undertook overseas duties - as chairman of the Dutch subsidiary and the UK export company. He also served as chairman of both the Midlands and the Yorkshire Brewing Associations and as vice chairman of the Leeds Training and Enterprise Council in the 1990s.

Subsequently Philip involved himself in the SME sector as a non executive director and mentor, his main interests being in the leveraging of an organisation's invisible assets - such as knowledge, communication skills and service standards - for competitive advantage.

He now spends his time on his family - his two sons and their families inconveniently live in Sussex and Northumberland respectively - on walking with his wife Margaret, on his (far too large) garden and on his interest in landscape archaeology. In his remaining spare time he is chairman of the village trust in Skelton near York.