Corporate report

Geospatial Commission: Board of Commissioners meeting 25 October 2023

Published 5 February 2024

Geospatial Commission Board of Commissioners’ Meeting 28

25 October 2023

HM Land Registry, Croydon

Attendees

Commissioners:

Bernard Silverman (Chair)
Nigel Clifford (Deputy Chair)
Louise Heathwaite
Alex Notay
Gabriel Straub
Steve Unger

Nominated Commissioners:

David Henderson (OS, deputising for Stephen Lake)

Partner Body representatives:

Simon Hayes (HMLR)
Nick Bolton (OS)
Tetyana Mykhaylyk (VOA, deputising for Jonathan Russell)
Patrick Bell (BGS, deputising for Karen Hanghoj)
Geraldine Wildman (CA, deputising for Lisa Pinney)

Commission Unit:

Thalia Baldwin
Sarah Hodgetts
Catherine Carter-McGrath
Chris Chambers
Jamie Clark
Ros Goodfellow
Mehul Doshi
Patrick Vanderpant
Ben Carson
Claire Eagle

Observers:

Alan Corbett (Scotland, online)
David Roberts (Wales, online)
Suzanne McLaughlin (Northern Ireland, online)

Apologies:

Peter Sparkes (UKHO)

1. Welcome, Minutes and Matters Arising

1.1. Bernard welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked Thalia Baldwin and Nigel Clifford for their contributions to the Geospatial Commission, as this was their last Board meeting. Sarah Hodgetts and Nick Bolton were introduced to the Board as it was their first meeting.

1.2. Bernard noted that the focus of the sessions leading up to the Board included an interesting discussion with the National Infrastructure Commission; on the application of artificial intelligence to the geospatial ecosystem; and, a focus on greater future collaboration across the Partner Bodies.

1.3. The July Board meeting minutes were approved with no comments.

2. Report from the Nominated Commissioners

2.1. David Henderson commented on the meeting of the Nominated Commissioners on Friday 20th October. The group had some comments on the Geographies of Work and Land Use papers to be shared during the course of the conversation.

2.2. David reflected on how far the Commission had come in five years and thanked Thalia and Nigel for all their work in creating and leading the Geospatial Commission and the positive impact on the Geospatial community.

3. Report from the Director of the Commission

3.1. Thalia gave her final update and talked about the work the Commission had achieved since the last Board, including:

• Publishing reports on Property, Electric Vehicles, Connected and Automated Mobility that bring together a number of strands across the strategy and how those can shape the future programme.

• NUAR continues to progress on track.

• Initiating a review of the PSGA to ensure we are maximise the impact of the agreement.

• The Earth Observation pilot continues well with 30 public sector organisations participating. Work is underway for the re-letting of the APGB contract.

• Informative visit to Singapore to share knowledge and build links ahead of the 2024 international conference.

4. Geography of Work

4.1. Ros Goodfellow briefly introduced the paper, providing a framing for the UK Geospatial Strategy 2030 commitment ‘to understand the implications of geographic changes to where people work and land used for employment.’

4.2. There is significant activity across government in this space. The Geospatial Commission plans to convene conversations to identify the drivers and policy impacts of the changes and then explore any data, methodology and innovation improvements required.

4.4. Rob Singleton, Head of Planning, Planning Policy, Housing and Transport, Department for Transport presented on their developing Connectivity and Planning tool, a tangible example of a new methodology supporting understanding of the impacts of changing geography of work. The tool creates an index measure of connectivity alongside a map of key connections to help local authorities make decisions around planning.

4.5. The Board discussed that there is not a settled approach to work locations by many organisations but it will be crucial to have the right models to baseline and then analyse changes. The Board noted that some underpinning spatial economic theories may need reviewing in light of recent changes such as cluster theory. In addition, different administration and regional policies may create the right environment for national experiments to assess policy impacts.

4.6. Board members also flagged specific areas of interest such as digital infrastructure, place-based investment, sustainability and equality considerations and agreed to follow up with connections.

5. Land Use Update

5.1. Catherine McGrath introduced a paper setting out the vision for a Land Use Analysis Taskforce, as set out in Finding Common Ground.

5.2. The Board expressed support for the Taskforce and its objectives, as well as the value it could bring in a range of policy areas and to support long-term decision making on land use for the UK. The Board discussed potential governance models for the taskforce, and the structures and expertise that would best support the objectives. The Board also noted the significant interest in the Taskforce across Whitehall, and specific initiatives and policy priorities it could support.

5.3. The Board discussed the complex stakeholder landscape and the importance of engaging with a broad range of interested parties, including in academia, the technology and data markets. It was agreed that the Commission would work closely with Partner Bodies throughout the programme.

5.4. The Commissioners considered the wider land use ecosystem. It was agreed that a strength of the Taskforce will be in surfacing use cases for land use data and showing the value of coordination across departments and / or sectors. Commissioners suggested looking at specific locations across the country to test what some of the local and regional benefits of the Taskforce could be.

6. AOB

6.1. Bernard asked attendees to note the protective marking of the NUAR updates.

6.2. Ros talked about the Partner Body shadow programme running again this year for which we are hoping to kick off applications in the next week to match people to opportunities.

6.3. Bernard mentioned the nominated commissioner terms come to an end at the calendar year so Partner Bodies take an action to propose nominated commissioners for 2024.

6.4. Next meeting takes place 30th January, with an interim nominated commissioners meeting ahead of that.