Marine Planning Newsletter Spring 2022

Marine plans monitoring surveys

We launched our annual monitoring survey at the start of January and asked for your support in collecting data to strengthen the monitoring and reporting of England’s marine plans.

To those that have completed a monitoring survey – thank you. You are helping build our knowledge of marine plan use.

To those still considering a response, the monitoring surveys are your opportunity to share your experience of using the marine plans and will support our understanding of the influence marine plan policies have in the decision-making process. The data collected will help shape the three-yearly report to parliament on the effectiveness of the marine plans. This will inform policy development and may lead to a refresh of a marine plan.

The monitoring surveys are listed here:

Please submit completed monitoring surveys by 7 March 2022.

Some respondents may be contacted for a follow-up verification interview to discuss their answers in more detail. Findings from these interviews will complement the analysis of survey responses. If you have questions on the monitoring surveys, or have submitted a response and would like to participate in a verification interview, please contact either the Planning mailbox or one of our Marine Planning Officers based around England’s coast.

Explore Marine Plans Annual Report

Explore Marine Plans (EMP) is an online, interactive resource which supports the implementation of England's marine plans. It does this by providing proponents, decision-makers and all stakeholders with up to date evidence and marine planning information.

In January 2022, we completed our second internal annual EMP monitoring report. The aim of this report was to evaluate available data on the use of EMP during its second year of operation and to make evidence-based recommendations for its continuous improvement.

In total, 5,511 users accessed EMP between 4 November 2020 and 3 November 2021. This represented a 56% increase in the number of annual users from the previous 12 month reporting period. The report found that there is a growing awareness of EMP and how to access it among our stakeholders. Factors contributing to the changes in the use of EMP include the adoption of the North East Marine Plans, North West Marine Plans, South East Marine Plans and South West Marine Plans in June 2021. The delivery of marine plan implementation training sessions by the Marine Planning team is also likely to have played a role in increasing the use of EMP.

The annual EMP monitoring report also made several recommendations for the continued improvement and maintenance of the digital service. We will continue to support EMP through regular monitoring and promotion. Where possible, improvements to the digital service will also be made, including in response to user feedback. We will be seeking user feedback on EMP as part of our follow-up interviews to this year’s marine plan monitoring surveys.

A recorded walkthrough of how to use EMP for marine plan users (applicants and decision-makers) is available on our Using Marine Plans guidance webpage.
Further information on EMP and the findings of the annual monitoring report can be found in our recent Marine developments blog.

Strategic Renewables Unit (SRU) update

Offshore wind expansion
Offshore wind energy continues to be a busy and exciting sector to be involved in. In recent months we have seen the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy give the green light for Norfolk Boreas and Norfolk Vanguard, both 1.8GW projects off the east coast. The Crown Estate has announced plans for a 4GW floating wind leasing round in the Celtic Sea, which for the first time will include large commercial-scale projects. The MMO will continue to engage with partners on these projects to ensure we meet the MMO’s vision of a prosperous future for our seas, coasts and communities through deployment of sustainable offshore wind.

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) position statement
In November, the MMO was pleased to sign a joint interim position statement on UXO clearance with a number of government bodies. Increasing development in the marine environment is leading to the discovery of a greater number of undetonated munitions, which can disturb protected marine mammals when cleared. Recently, new methods for clearing ordnance have been developed which could lead to lower noise and thereby a reduced impact on the marine environment. However, there is currently a lack of supporting evidence on some of these methods' efficacy and impact. The position statement outlines our support for the development and use of these new methods and sets out recommendations until more robust evidence is available.

Supporting research into offshore wind
As the renewables industry expands, continued research into the impacts and benefits of offshore wind infrastructure is essential for delivering sustainable deployment. In October, the Natural Environment Research Council launched the Ecological Consequences of Offshore Wind (ECOWind) programme, which will look at how ecosystems respond to offshore wind and to provide evidence to inform marine policy and management. To support this work, the MMO is pleased to be a potential partner for projects funded through the programme. Alongside this, we continue to engage with external evidence projects including those funded by the Offshore Renewables Joint Industry Programme and the Offshore Wind Evidence and Change Programme.

Sussex Bay project

Sussex Bay is an ambitious vision in the South stretching from Selsey Bills to Camber Sands, extending out beyond six nautical miles. It aims to reconnect seas, rivers and intertidal areas, regenerate coastal communities, allow heritage fishing industries to thrive, and create blue jobs through a new blue ecotourism economy. This aligns with the South Marine Plan’s vision to enhance the sustainable economic growth, protection of the natural and historic environment, and the well-being of those who live, work and visit the south coast. The integration between terrestrial and marine planning is encouraged which will support the infrastructure required to deliver this sustainable regeneration project.

Sussex Bay is considered to be a once in a generation opportunity to work beyond boundaries in order to tackle the growing local impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss in the rivers and seas. This ambition links with the South Marine Plan’s policies for the effective protection and management of the natural environment to improve resilience, halt and, if possible, reverse the loss of biodiversity leading to the recovery of areas currently adversely impacted.

Coastal defences are a concern along the coast for many coastal communities and links being developed with major Environment Agency coastal defence schemes can support the aims of both Sussex Bay and the South Marine Plan, as well as Shoreline Management Plans.

The team behind Sussex Bay are establishing research forums such as the Solent and Sussex Bay Research Partnership, and coastal local authority forums in West Sussex and East Sussex. These will consist of stakeholders who have previously engaged with marine planning and therefore will provide an opportunity for knowledge sharing, raising awareness of the South Marine Plan and how it can be used to support Sussex Bay.

Click to listen to the most recent webinar and learn more about Sussex Bay.

Marine Planner updates from around the coast

The Team has marine planners based at offices around England’s coast. They have a particular responsibility to inform, educate and support all stakeholders (organisations, public bodies, industry groups and individuals etc) throughout their local marine plan area in order to maximise participation in marine plan development, implementation and monitoring.

Their work to develop sound relationships with Local Planning Authorities, and other decision-makers, is especially important to the facilitation of integration between marine and terrestrial planning systems.

They are always keen to work with stakeholders to continue to raise awareness of marine planning. If you’d like to invite them to participate in your meetings please use the Contact Marine Planners details below.

North East
During the winter months Clare McCarty has participated in virtual meetings with coastal partnerships in the North East. Overarching themes include management and development of the coastal and marine area, including local nature recovery strategies, blue carbon projects and heritage conservation.

In December, Clare attended the Berwickshire and Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership Annual Forum which was a great opportunity to hear updates from a range of projects happening on the North East and neighbouring Scottish coast. Topics across social, environmental and economic themes were discussed ranging from citizen science projects, recreational guidelines, North East Marine Plan adoption and the anticipated ScotWind announcements. At this meeting the North Sea Wildlife Trusts presented a report on Carbon Capture and Storage in Natural Systems within the English North Sea which was commissioned by the Trusts, Blue Marine Foundation, WWF and the RSPB. The report assesses the extent, scale, distribution, and potential of blue carbon sinks including kelp, seagrass, biogenic reefs, saltmarsh and sediment in the English North Sea.

In the coming weeks, Clare looks forward to participating in workshops hosted by the Northumberland Marine Nature Partnership and Durham Heritage Coast Partnership as part of the Championing Coastal Coordination initiative. These workshops aim to examine impacts of climate change on the North East coast and implications for future coastal zone management.

East
Common themes in the east marine plan area over the past few months were recreational disturbance (particularly in the northern extent), as well as sea grass restoration and the exploration of saltmarsh opportunities. David Spray was also involved in a Wash and North Norfolk Marine Debris Workshop to tackle marine litter.

Prior to David joining the team, Corinna Dietz covered the whole extent of the east marine plan area and attended a range of virtual meetings. Corinna was involved with several energy Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) and the associated discussions on their effects on the marine and coastal environment. The range of topics discussed (including disturbance, marine litter, seascape and, carbon capture and storage) all draw upon marine plan policies. Corinna was also interested to learn about how EDF Energy, as part of its development of Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station (one of the NSIPs), will establish a Natural Environment Improvement Fund. The Fund will support measures to mitigate the landscape and visual effects of the development through implementation of projects that contribute to various environmental goals. This demonstrates an application of the East Marine Plan’s mitigation hierarchy policies.

Engagement opportunities coming up in the northern extent include the Humber Estuary Relevant Authorities Group AGM, Wash East Coast Management Strategy Stakeholders Forum, and the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB Management Plan Review

South East
Key themes within the many virtual meetings Lucinda Robinson has attended over the last few months, around the south east marine plan area, have been coastal monitoring and environmental restoration.

Projects are using restoration methods to repair current damaged or polluted habitats as well as creating new habitats for wildlife. Many are focusing on habitats with potential for blue carbon storage. These projects can have a great impact through aiding biodiversity increase by ensuring coastal areas are free from pollutants, contain diverse habitats and are viable for wildlife.

At a Port of London Authority webinar, the Thames Vision Refresh was shared with stakeholders. The Marine Planning team has been involved in this work and it was great to see the key goals being shared and to learn more of some of the projects occurring around the Thames. These seek to aid the local environment, increase business trading, and improve the experience of those using the Thames.

Upcoming meetings include the Thames Estuary Partnership and the Beneficial Use of Dredge Sediment (BUDS) in Essex.

South
Lauren James has been attending meetings incorporating themes such as marine protected area designations, climate change, coastal infrastructure and water quality.

Lauren joined the Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) Management Groups from the River Dart in Devon to the Solent in Hampshire to support potential responses to key risks to the delivery of SMPs identified by the MMO’s marine plans.

Recently, Lauren went for a site visit to ABP Southampton, one of the country’s busiest and most successful deep-water ports. This port is multi-functional, offering services such as for containers, car, scrap and grain exports. They have a key focus of constantly improving the sustainability, with solar panels on the roofs of buildings and providing sufficient infrastructure for the cleaner, larger and longer ships that are 25% more fuel efficient.

The Studland Bay Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) Habitat Protection Strategy was published at the end of 2021 having engaged with local interest groups, coastal forums, recreational boaters and scientific advisors. It provides detail on anchoring, monitoring of the phased voluntary no-anchor zone, mooring, marine licensing and other non-licensable marine activities. Studland Bay is important for recreational activities, but anchoring within the seagrass beds in the MCZ was causing the decline of this fragile ecosystem. The MMO are now working hard to identify the most effective ways to reach people, as they travel countywide to visit Studland, in order to raise awareness of the voluntary no-anchor zone.

Meetings coming soon for Lauren include a virtual Maritime UK Solent Breakfast meeting, an All Party Parliamentary Group meeting on fisheries and protected areas, the Poole Harbour Catchment Initiative Delivery Group (identifying ways to improve biodiversity habitats including naturally functioning rivers, floodplains and wetlands and appropriately located woodland and low-input grassland) and the Southern Coastal Group and Standing Conference on Problems Associated with the Coastline meeting, who are the Regional Coastal Group for central southern England.

South West
Over the past few months, a number of the meetings, webinars and workshops attended by Lily Anna Stokes have worked to refresh coastal and estuary management plans, ensuring their aims and objectives have evolved with the changing environment and dynamics of coastal communities and their needs. Lily Anna’s engagement has raised awareness of the benefits to the refresh of recognition of the relevant South West Marine Plan policies.

Specifically, Lily Anna has been contributing to the refresh of the Tamar Estuary Management Plan within a working group composed of stakeholders from the Tamar Estuary Consultative Forum. Given the Special Area of Conservation status of the area, the recent adoption of the South West Marine Plan, and the proposal of the Plymouth National Marine Park this refresh is an exciting project to be engaged with. It pulls together community engagement and education on the Tamar Estuary, working to enhance the environmental quality of the area and ensure that management practices work in tandem with economic and business practices that rely on the area. Lily Anna looks forward to continuing to engage with the project as it progresses.

Looking to the near future Lily Anna will also be working to champion coastal coordination and change in the south west by working with various coastal groups on projects such as the refresh of Shoreline Management Plans. Additionally Lily Anna will be visiting various locations throughout the marine plan area to meet stakeholders in person to discuss how the South West Marine Plan can help achieve their goals.

Meetings, webinars and workshops Sophie Kendall has attended have largely focused on themes such as adaptation to climate change, flood defences and coastal landfill, monitoring of protected sites, and development around the River Severn.

Recent workshops on the revival of the Severn Vision project have shown Sophie the huge potential to make the River Severn, and its ecosystems and communities, more resilient to climate change. Outputs from the workshops have also highlighted the opportunities that may be created, particularly in employment and access, from further development and management of the area. This project is still in the planning stage, and Sophie is keen to follow its progression and raise awareness of links to marine planning. Energy generation around the south west is another common theme, and the potential for using tidal energy from the River Severn is being explored with a new commission to create a Severn Estuary barrage between local authorities on either side of the estuary. It is promising to see collaborative planning across the border. Concerns over the potential impacts of flooding around the River Severn as a result of climate change have been raised in multiple meetings. The Shoreline Management Plan refresh will address these issues and provide confidence going forward. Projects will explore the potential for saltmarsh restoration for the Severn as they have been found to be highly useful for carbon sequestration, as well as acting as natural flood defences.

In the coming weeks, Sophie looks forward to volunteering with a primary school on an online "marine careers" event, as well as continuing to engage stakeholders around the northern extent of the south west.

North West
Over the past few months, key themes for Rachel Thirlwall’s stakeholder engagement within the north west region include Marine Natural Capital Projects, Estuarine Governance and Habitat Restoration.

One of the main projects that Rachel has been involved with is the Planning and Regeneration Task Group, of the North West North Wales Coastal Group, which promotes the integration of marine and terrestrial planning with the Shoreline Management Plan Refresh (that is being undertaken across England and Wales). The Task Group is being led by a senior planning officer from Wyre Council with the help of representatives from terrestrial planning, marine planning and coastal engineering. The aim of the Task Group is to review the visibility and use of the Shoreline Management Plans within the North West and North Wales planning systems at both officer and member level and where necessary to identify means of improving its use within decision-making. The Group also aims to facilitate sign-up to the Coastal Concordat in the north west which would help to streamline the consenting processes by decision-making authorities for coastal and marine developments.

The Group will have several key activities including exploring methods to improve operational links with the planning system (both terrestrial and marine) and identifying key regeneration and development opportunities within the North West North Wales Coastal Group area.

Rachel is looking forward to face-to-face meetings with stakeholders to continue to build strong relationships in the north west area. Coming up in the near future, Rachel will be attending a workshop hosted by coastal partnerships in the north west to showcase the projects that are currently operating in the region and how these can work together for the benefit of our seas and coasts. She will also participate in a Tidal Dee Catchment Partnership Steering Group meeting with statutory organisations, the local authorities and conservation groups.

Team changes and recruitment

David Spray is as a marine planner based in Lowestoft and will be covering the southern extent of the east marine plan area. David joins us after graduating from Cardiff University where he studied marine geography. David also worked with the Seven Estuary Partnership while studying.

Peter Burn has joined us and has a principal responsibility for stakeholder engagement. Peter is based in Preston having previously worked at the University of Central Lancashire on a low carbon project and teaching geography to young people.

Neal Gray has been promoted to Senior Marine Planner and will now lead evidence and analysis.

Ben Coppin has also been promoted to Senior Marine Planner with the responsibility to support management of the marine planning programme.

Sidonie Kenward has been promoted from her previous role as a local marine planner for the south to take on a more senior role within the team.

Sian McGuiness will soon be joining us from Natural England and will be based in London. Sian will have responsibility for the implementation of marine plans and policy.

Recruitment for a south marine planner is now underway. All MMO vacancies are posted on Civil Service Jobs.

We wish Katharine Ludford well as she begins her maternity leave later this month.
Katharine’s role as Marine Planning Manager will be filled by Clare Kavanagh who has been promoted from her Senior Marine Planner post.

Contact Marine Planners

Marine planners based at the coast are here to keep you up to date with the development of marine plans in your area and to provide support and guidance with their implementation

Please email the planning mailbox if you would like to meet your local planner or contact them directly.

North East: Scottish border to Flamborough Head in Yorkshire
Clare McCarty – 0208 7201 736, Clare.McCarty@marinemanagement.org.uk

East: Flamborough Head in Yorkshire to Boston in Lincolnshire
Corinna Dietz - 0203 0252 090, Corinna.Dietz@marinemanagement.org.uk

East: Boston in Lincolnshire to Landguard Point, Felixstowe in Suffolk
David Spray – 0208 0265 359, David.Spray@marinemanagement.org.uk

South East: Landguard Point, Felixstowe in Suffolk to Folkestone in Kent
Lucinda Robinson – 0208 7200 083, Lucinda.Robinson@marinemanagement.org.uk

South: Folkestone in Kent to the River Dart in Devon
Lauren James, 0208 0262 031, Lauren.James@marinemanagement.org.uk

South West: River Dart in Devon to Bude in Cornwall
Lily Anna Stokes, 0208 7203 649, LilyAnna.Stokes@marinemanagement.org.uk

South West: Bude in Cornwall to the Forest of Dean border with Wales
Sophie Kendall, 0207 7142 366, Sophie.Kendall@marinemanagement.org.uk

North West: Solway Firth border with Scotland to the River Dee border with Wales
Rachel Thirlwall – 0208 0264 052, Rachel.Thirlwall@marinemanagement.org.uk