WHEN Dr Chris Spray joined Northumbrian Water 13 years ago, the idea that business could act as a champion of wildlife was still in its infancy.

As he prepares to leave for a new challenge in Scotland, the concept has made dramatic strides forward and Dr Spray is widely acknowledged as having played a leading role in the revolution regionally, nationally and internationally.

A keen naturalist with a particular passion for birds, the graduate of Aberdeen University joined Northumbrian Water, based at Pity Me, near Durham City, as its recreation and conservation manager in 1991. Six years later, he was appointed environment director.

Dr Spray, a 50-year-old father-of-three, said: "When I arrived in 1991, there were only really one or two businesses that saw the environment as an issue. Northumbrian Water gave me a free rein to develop my ideas and make people more aware of the need for conservation. It fitted in well with the business."

The company's day-to-day operations impacted on rivers, riverbanks, wetland areas and reservoirs, which were home to creatures as diverse as otters and the rare round-mouthed whorl snail.

Central to Dr Spray's approach was the belief that companies could not make significant changes on their own and that they had to work closely with agencies such as the wildlife trusts, the RSPB and English Nature.

Northumbrian Water became one of the first companies in the UK to produce a biodiversity action plan, a comprehensive audit of all the wildlife on its land and the action needed to protect it.

That, in turn, led to the company playing a key role in the pioneering Durham Biodiversity Partnership, which brought together a wide range of organisations across County Durham, Gateshead, Wearside and South Tyneside, to co-ordinate their ecological work.

Everyone from Durham Wildlife Trust and English Nature to Northumbrian Water and Glaxo is involved and the partnership, which celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this year, is now an ackowledged UK leader in its field.

Over that time, it has pioneered projects from saving the water vole to restoring the number of black poplar trees.

Dr Spray said: "It arose from a belief that we all had to work together, that it had to be a partnership and that we needed to explain to people what we can achieve together."

He has been involved in many other projects - he sits on national bodies that direct the development of conservation in the UK and has travelled the world addressing conferences on how business can help wildlife, focusing global attention on North-East initiatives.

In the summer of 2002, Dr Spray went to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, South Africa, at which the tiny round-mouthed whorl snail briefly took centre stage.

The only English site for the snail, which is half a millimetre across, is on damp hillsides above Cow Green reservoir, in Teesdale. Dr Spray was invited to address the summit on the partnership between Northumbrian Water and English Nature to take steps to ensure the creature's survival.

He believes such partnerships are the way forward. Dr Spray said: "Things have changed from ten years ago. Now, Northumbrian Water has become a regional player, working closely with organisations such as English Nature, the RSPB and the wildlife trusts. We have been able to help with funding for some projects and also take advantage of the expertise of ecologists working for other organisations. The organisations have, in turn, been able to apply for funding of their own from a range of sources."

He is also proud of being a board member of the Industry Nature Conservation Association (Inca), based in Billingham, which has helped Teesside companies, many of them in the chemical sector, support conservation projects, for 15 years.

John Mann, director of Inca, said: "He will be irreplaceable for the region. He has been very helpful in integrating conservation into business planning, particularly through his work with Northumbrian Water."

Dr Spray believes the raised profile of such an approach is reflected in the heightened awareness among business people and that more and more companies are taking the environment seriously.

"A lot of our customers and city analysts, are now asking us 'What do you do for the environment, what are your policies?' I do not think that ten years ago you would have found City analysts asking that," he said.

Dr Spray is due to leave Northumbrian Water in July to become director of environmental science with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, based in Stirling, where he will oversee the agency's monitoring of environmental areas such as water quality and habitat preservation.

He said: "It is a wonderful challenge, it is very exciting.

Published: 11/05/2004