Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre (BRERC) holds information about people who submit records to the Centre. This information is used for verification and validation of the data, which is an important part of the process in managing the several million records housed at BRERC. Personal information is not supplied by BRERC to data enquirers and names are blanked out on copies of records and reports sent to them.
We also hold information on others that we work with, and of those who have expressed a wish to be informed of BRERC's, and/or of BRERC's affiliated Recording Groups', activities. Personal information is also held with regard to those who submit enquiries to BRERC, in order that we can refer back to those enquirers. This personal information is either held on computerised databases and/or in various paper formats, such as membership lists or contained within submitted survey reports or records.
Names and addresses are also used when mailing newsletters, recording forms, invitations to meetings and other information or publicity material. This holding and our use of the data is in accordance with BRERC's function and role as an environmental records centre, also referred to as a Local Records Centre (LRC).
BRERC treats some types of records as confidential. Generally these are records of certain species which have a recent history of persecution or are particularly rare and vulnerable to disturbance. Examples are the locations of badger setts, raptor nesting sites, bat roosts, some rare plants that English Nature consider particularly vulnerable and otter holts.
The only people who are given details of this type of record by BRERC are: the council ecologists; the conservation officers, protected species officer and team manager of English Nature; the conservation officers of Avon Wildlife Trust; the conservation officers/ecologists of Environment Agency; the committee members of the relevant species group or national scheme. At the specific request of these people BRERC may pass details to nominated others, such as tree officers or contracted surveyors, where extenuating circumstances prevail (for example public safety issues).
All other enquirers are simply informed that a sett, bat roost etc occurs within half a kilometre of their site (where applicable) and that the relevant specialist groups and English Nature's protected species officer should be consulted. All enquirers are also advised to have current field surveys carried out and that the absence of records does not necessarily mean an absence of species or habitat.