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You Said, We Did: Iteration 3 North West, North East, South West, South East Marine Plans
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As part of our Statement of Public Participation, the Marine Management Organisation committed to making sure that relevant stakeholders had the opportunity to input into the development of England’s marine plans. Furthermore, one of the principles of this commitment was to “…let people know how their views have been taken into account…”. As a result, each iteration of the marine planning process has culminated in outputs including: the development of the next iteration, stakeholder feedback, evidence and assessment. We have also published engagement summaries (Iteration 1 Engagement Summary, Iteration 2 Engagement Summary and Iteration 3 Engagement Summary).
During the Iteration 3 workshops we introduced the concept of ‘You said, we did’ by giving a presentation outlining some of the key changes made to draft policies following the Iteration 2 Options feedback. Since Iteration 3 was the final stage of public engagement before the statutory consultation on the four Draft Marine Plans, and recognising the need to respond to requests for more information on the MMO’s response to stakeholder feedback, we have produced the more detailed “You said, we did: A summary of stakeholder led Iteration 3 policy changes”. Nearly 3,000 individual policy comments were received across the 297 polices that were available for comment during the engagement period earlier this year. While it was, therefore, not possible to list all amendments made to policies the report details the main changes as well as some examples of where stakeholder feedback was not applied along with justifications for these decisions.
Feedback from stakeholders participating in the implementation exercises at the Iteration 3 workshops was fed into the development of the next phase of implementation training (see later article).
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North West, North East, South West, South East Marine Plans: Next steps
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We are continuing to work on plan drafting. Once the draft plans have been finalised and signed off we will be able to share with you the dates for the consultation. It is anticipated that consultation will start in the New Year. If you would like to be kept up to date then please subscribe to our newsletter.
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Marine Plan Implementation
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Once the Draft North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans have been published for consultation they become a material consideration in decision making processes and it is essential that organisations understand their statutory obligations with respect to this.
Over the winter months, the Marine Planning team will be providing implementation training to organisations that will use the marine plans in their decision making in the North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plan areas. If your organisation would like to make use of this training opportunity please contact your local marine planner to discuss opportunities:
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Co-ordination with marine plans in adjacent jurisdictions
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It is both a statutory requirement and important that marine plans are developed in a way that takes account of marine plans in adjacent areas and considers ‘transboundary’ matters.
This was re-emphasised in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan which sets out the need to ensure that marine plans around England “…work cohesively with adjacent marine plans, whether they are developed within the UK or by neighbouring countries.” Recent relevant activity we have undertaken in this regard includes:
- Scotland: hosting a visit by Marine Scotland to discuss the approach and timetable for marine planning in our respective areas, cross-border issues and future engagement
- Wales: visit to the Welsh Government to swap notes on progress with our respective marine plans, discuss developing plan policies with a cross-border focus, share our experience of plan implementation and consider how we might work together in the future to address cross-border issues.
- France: responded to a consultation on the developing marine plans in France under the French National Maritime and Coastline Strategy.
- Germany: responded to an invitation to provide information to feed into the process to review and update the Maritime Spatial Plans for the German Economic Exclusive Zone of the North and the Baltic Sea.
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North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans: Statutory Assessments Process
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The marine planning team have been refining marine plan policies using Iteration 3 stakeholder feedback (see above), input from across government departments and outputs from the statutory assessment processes: the Sustainability Appraisal and the Habitat Regulations Assessment. Both the Sustainability Appraisal and the Habitat Regulations Assessment are delivered by contractors on behalf of the Marine Management Organisation and are a legislative requirement of the marine planning process. Both assessments provide an important check and balance of the marine planning process and products.
The Sustainability Appraisal provides an independent assessment of the marine plans at each stage of their development, ensuring that the marine plans achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability. The methodology and development of the Sustainability Appraisal has involved a range of expert stakeholders, who sit on the Sustainability Appraisal Advisory Group. The Scoping Reports for the North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans were published in 2016 and stakeholder feedback was sought during Iteration 1 engagement. The assessment of the sustainability of the Draft North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans has been completed and will be consulted upon alongside the draft Marine Plans.
A Habitat Regulations Assessment is required to assess what impact a marine plan could have on the conservation objectives of European sites (protected areas that are also called Natura 2000 sites). The Habitat Regulations Assessments for the Draft North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans are broken down into three stages: pre-screening, screening, and appropriate assessment. Each stage has been reviewed by the relevant statutory nature conservation agencies. The screening and appropriate assessment information reports are being finalised and will be available during the public consultation for the Draft North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plans.
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Explore Marine Plans
Image credit: Claire Hedley
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Following a successful Beta Government Digital Service assessment Explore Marine Plans will be live by the end of September. The project has been running since November 2017. Explore Marine Plans is the culmination of the Discovery, Alpha and Beta phases of development. This service replaces MIS that will shortly be retired and a redirect will be put in place to point users to the new service.
Thank you to all those who have participated in user research across each phase of development. We will continue to collect feedback and iterate the service. For details on how to submit feedback please see the service start page or contact the planning mailbox.
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Marine Planning Evidence Base
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The Marine Management Organisation continuously acquires and manages marine evidence and data to support its work, including the work of marine planning. We make this information publically available on the Evidence Projects Register which includes details of ongoing and complete evidence projects.
Projects recently completed that support the development of marine plans include:
Identifying sites suitable for marine habitat restoration or creation (MMO1135)
During marine planning engagement, stakeholders requested more information on sites that could potentially be suitable for coastal and marine habitat restoration or creation. In response, we commissioned ABPmer to develop a national dataset to identify which habitats are most suitable for restoration or creation.
Mapping alterative use of dredge material in North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plan areas (MMO1190)
To support the re-use of dredged material, rather than deposition at sea, this project developed a national dataset to map opportunities for the alternative use of dredge material in North West, North East, South West and South East Marine Plan areas. Royal Haskoning were commissioned to develop the dataset.
Ongoing projects due to complete this year include:
Social baseline data for marine planning (MMO1132)
Identifying social evidence to underpin marine development and monitoring. A framework will consider social issues in marine planning and review known information on seascape, social deprivation and access.
Essential fish habitat validation (MMO1133)
Developing a national model to spatially predict essential fish habitats.
Mapping the value of shipping (MMO1158)
Developing spatial data to map trade flows of commercial shipping.
Identification of sites of marine aquaculture potential in England (MMO1184)
Developing spatial data to identify resource areas for aquaculture in English waters.
Seascapes methodology (MMO1204)
Developing a methodology to assess the quality and value of seascapes and their capacity to accommodate change.
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Monitoring and Reporting
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We would like to thank those stakeholders who responded to our winter surveys and those that participated in follow-up interviews earlier in the year. These responses, along with other additional monitoring data, contribute valuably towards the monitoring and reporting requirements for the marine plans. An output of the Marine Management Organisation Marine Planning team’s monitoring efforts is the preparation and laying before Parliament of a report on each adopted marine plan at intervals of no more than three years.
These reports must review progress the Plan may have made against its objectives as well as the UK Marine Policy Statement’s high level marine objectives. This is in line with requirements of Section 61 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (the Act), and includes the need to keep matters under review (Section 54). The report will then inform a decision on whether to amend or replace the Plan.
The first report for the East Plans was published in March 2017. At that time the decision was taken not to amend or replace the East Marine Plans. The second three yearly report on the East Plans will be due before Parliament by the end of March 2020 and the first three yearly report on the South Plans will be due in July 2021. Looking ahead to the autumn and winter of 2019 the efforts of the monitoring team will be focussed on remaining data collection, analysis and production of the next three-yearly report on the East Marine Plans.
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Marine Plan Area updates
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North East
Clare McCarty joined the team in March and has been meeting stakeholders and partnerships including:
- the Flamborough Head European Marine Site
- Tees Estuary Partnership and Durham Heritage Coast
- the North East Local Enterprise Partnership Local Industrial Strategy summit
- Tyne Estuary Partnership launch event.
For ‘World Oceans Day’ in June, Clare and Kathleen Telford provided a Marine Management Organisation marine planning stall at an Environment Agency event in Newcastle. A variety of stakeholders interacted with our marine planning model whilst Clare and Kathleen provided updates on production of the Draft North East Marine Plan.
Clare also attended a Berwickshire and Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership workshop to discuss activities and aspirations within the Coquet to Tyne area, as well as the recently designated Berwick to St Mary’s Marine Conservation Zone.
North West
Joe Smithyman gave a lecture at the University of Liverpool on marine planning at their Marine Planning week for students from across the world. Joe also attended a Lancashire Local Nature Partnership workshop and the North West Aggregate Working Party.
In addition to this, Joe met with Scottish and Welsh colleagues to discuss cross-border marine planning. He also presented at the Royal Town Planning Institute’s annual conference on what the future of planning could look like with his topic centred around the integration of marine and terrestrial planning.
East
In the east we have a new marine planner, Georgie Sutton, who will be covering the southern part of the East Marine Plan area from Boston to Felixstowe. Georgie has been out and about meeting stakeholders which included attending the Norfolk Green Infrastructure and Recreational Disturbance Avoidance Mitigation Strategy workshop, and a meeting with Cefas to get up to speed with the Beneficial Use Working Group, who advise on alternative uses for dredged material.
In the meantime Amy Balding has continued engagement and implementation in the northern extent of the East Marine Plan areas, as well as gathering information and data that will feed into the three-yearly report of the East which is due in 2020 (see above).
For those who missed out on an implementation training session for the east or wish to have a training refresh please contact Amy Balding or Georgie Sutton.
South East
Tom Pavitt followed the London Plan Examination in Public with interest. He also held meetings with the Port of London Authority and Greater London Authority to ensure the integration between the London Plan and South East Marine Plan. Discussions were had on marine plan policies, including landing facilities and seascape, and London Plan’s Waterways policies.
Tom met with a coordinator of the government’s Thames Estuary Growth project to discuss the Thames Estuary Growth Board and the South East Marine Plan’s opportunity for economic and social policies to provide a framework for the crowded Tidal Thames.
South West
Amy Willcocks had a busy early summer period of engagement attending a variety of events:
- the Lundy Island Forum, including a very rough crossing!
- a Severn Estuary conference with updates from interested parties and authorities spanning the English and Welsh sides of the Estuary
- engaging with the Gloucester Severn Estuary Stakeholders, visiting some new sea defences and Steart Marshes.
Amy has also contributed to discussions around the North Devon Marine Pioneer project and Natural Capital; useful developments that assist in drafting and monitoring marine plans.
Alex Curd continued to engage with stakeholders while the South West Marine Plans continue to develop. He has been fortunate enough to attend several South West Partnership for Environment and Economic Prosperity (SWEEP) workshops for projects on water quality and aquaculture development in the south west and informing investment in the environment for health and wellbeing.
Alex has engaged with the Cornwall Marine Liaison Group, the Environment Agency and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory throughout the summer to discuss the marine plans. Recently attending the Marine Environmental Growth workshop with TEVI and ExeterMarine, an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers, gave Alex an opportunity to engage with new stakeholders on how to contribute towards environmental growth in Cornwall, as well as some familiar faces who are already very well engaged in the marine planning process.
South
The South Marine Plans have been in place for one year now! Marine Planners have been busy delivering implementation sessions to local planning authorities, harbour and port authorities and coastal forums. These implementation sessions contained information on how marine plans are made and how decision-makers can incorporate them into their functions. If you missed this opportunity or wish to have a refresh please get in touch with Abby Haines.
We are now monitoring the effectiveness of the South Marine Plans and their policies using a suite of indicators, drawing on information from a wide variety of data and surveys.
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Team changes and recruitment
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We welcome new colleagues to the team.
Emma Harrison joined the team in March as a Marine Planner and is based in Newcastle.
Jethro Watson joined us as a Senior Marine Planner in June and is also based in Newcastle.
Georgie Sutton joined the team in July as a Marine Planner for the east and is based in Lowestoft.
Daniel Hallam joined us in May as a Marine Planning Manager while Katharine Ludford is on maternity leave and is based in Newcastle.
Carl Jonsson and David Hutchinson are now working as Senior Marine Planners. Their previous posts have been filled by Joe Smithyman and Mathilda Evans based in Newcastle and Shoreham respectively. We are in the process of recruiting for three marine planner posts in the north west, south west and one national post based in Newcastle.
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Contact marine planners
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Marine Planners are here to keep you up to date with the development of marine plans in your area. Please contact us at planning mailbox if you would like to meet your local planner or contact them directly.
North East: Clare McCarty – 0208 7201 736
North West: 0208 0265 325
East: Amy Balding – 0208 0268 621
South East: Tom Pavitt – 0208 2258 857
South West: Amy Willcocks – 0207 8955 620 and Alex Curd – 0208 5654 835
South: Abby Haines – 0208 0265 506 and 0208 0265 325
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