The Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse has announced the council-nominated appointments to the boards of Scotland's two national parks.

Seven members have been appointed to the board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority and six to the board of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority.

WASTE management company Orchard Environmental has announced three new appointments as it continues to expand its operations across the North of England.

Dalbinder Ram and Chris Procter both have extensive experience in the waste and environmental sector and will work on business development for the Elland firm. Darren Isherwood joins the sales team.

The appointment of two new members of staff, one at its main sheet metal manufacturing site in the UK and one at its satellite factory in Slovakia, reinforces KMF (Precision Sheet Metal)'s commitment to delivering on its promises of high quality components and assemblies for its Europe-wide customer base, while at the same time ensuring its activities are compliant with environmental legislation.

KMF's head office and manufacturing facility in Newcastle under Lyme has long held the two key standards of ISO9001 (Quality Management System) and ISO14001 (Environmental Management System). The appointment of Craig Longworth as Quality Manager will strengthen this site's commitment to ISO9001 and further enhance the company's determination to deliver beyond its customers' expectations as far as system and component quality is concerned.

Dr Robert Brown and Mr Guy Duke have been re-appointed as independent members of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) by Richard Benyon, Natural Environment and Fisheries Minister.

The appointments will run from 1 December 2012 for three years, and Dr Brown and Mr Duke will receive remuneration of £9,836 a year based on 2.5 days a month.

JNCC is the public body that advises the UK Government and devolved administrations on UK wide and international nature conservation.