Sheffield Biological Record Centre to Increase Fees for Commercial Users

Strategic Insights -

A draft proposal for the Sheffield Biological Record Centre's Charging and Data Supply Policy, set to be reviewed by the Council's Communities, Parks & Leisure Policy Committee on June 30, outlines plans to increase fees for commercial users starting July 21. The centre's database holds records of species observed and identified in Sheffield, and supplies data for education, research, and conservation purposes. The proposed fee increase aims to cover rising costs and reflects a shift in the centre's funding model, while ensuring free access to data remains available for non-commercial users, including education and research projects, wildlife recorders, and citizen scientists.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Sheffield Biological Record Centre, a Local Environmental Records Centre (LERC) managed by the Sheffield City Council, supplies data for education, research, and conservation purposes.
  • The centre offers a paid service to commercial customers, such as environmental consultancies, which currently accounts for an unspecified portion of the centre's revenue.
  • The proposed fee increase aims to address rising costs and reflects a shift in the centre's funding model, while ensuring free access to data remains available for non-commercial users.
  • Non-commercial users, including education and research projects, wildlife recorders, and citizen scientists, will not be subject to the fee increase.
  • Commercial users, particularly developers and their ecological consultants, will face increased fees for data searches, with a single desktop search request costing an unspecified amount.
  • Data searches are free for non-commercial users, including education and research projects, wildlife recorders, and citizen scientists/members of the public with a general interest in records for their local area.
  • The centre will continue to offer data searches for commercial users, but at an increased fee, starting July 21.
  • The proposal will be discussed further at the Council's Communities, Parks & Leisure Policy Committee meeting on June 30, at Sheffield Town Hall.

Statistics:

  • The current fee structure has remained unchanged since 2011 (Source: Council report).
  • The centre's database holds records from various sources on species observed and identified in Sheffield, including location, date, and the recorder of the data.
  • Non-commercial users account for a significant portion of the centre's data access, including education and research projects, wildlife recorders, and citizen scientists (Source: Council report).
  • Commercial users, particularly developers and their ecological consultants, account for an unspecified portion of the centre's revenue (Source: Council report).

Sources:

  • Sheffield City Council: Draft proposal for the Sheffield Biological Record Centre's Charging and Data Supply Policy ( Source: Sheffield City Council website)
  • Council report on the proposed policy change (Source: Sheffield City Council report)
  • June 30, 2023, meeting of the Council's Communities, Parks & Leisure Policy Committee (Source: Sheffield City Council meeting agenda)