Requirement overview

Requirement detail

The MMO has identified that there is a need to increase the amount of evidence in relation to:

a) creating a national dataset showing the type and location of sites with potential to become significant habitats

b) using this information and an analysis of existing policy and delivery initiatives to assess what role there may be for marine planning and marine licensing in either safeguarding these sites or advising applicants of their existence, in relation to individual applications.

This has been highlighted as an issue through marine planning stakeholder engagement. The intended result is to try and improve the environmental policy provision in marine plans and contribute more to environmental protection, whilst helping the economy to flourish. This will improve the ability of regulators and others (such as statutory advisors or those using the marine area) to simply and efficiently understand the potential of sites to create habitat or for it to be restored. This could either be as stand-alone projects or part of development applications, once it is clear that all other parts of the processes relating to the Habitats and Wilds Birds Directives have been satisfactorily completed.

MMO use

Marine Planning: This work will assist with the continued improvement to the delivery of legal obligations relating to marine plans and will investigate the potential for specific plan policies related to habitat restoration and conversion.

Marine Licensing: This work will assist both marine licensing case officers and applicants try to ensure an innovative sustainable development approach.

External interest

Natural England, Cefas, Environment Agency

This document was published in November 2016. The York 5 year flood plan is continuously being developed. For more up-to-date information please click here.

After the floods in December 2015, the government committed £45 million to reduce the risk of flooding and increase the level of protection to at least 2,000 homes in York’s city centre over the next five years.

Since the announcement of the additional funding, we have assessed what changes could be made to the existing flood defences within the city and what new defences could be built. The results of this have been summarised within this plan.

We will use this plan to guide our work in the city over the next 5 years. The options we are presenting in this plan are based on our ambition to achieve a consistent standard of flood protection across the city.

This plan outlines the work across 10 York communities over the next 5 years. It looks at a range of potential flood reduction measures including:

• creating storage areas
• increasing pumping capacity
• raising and building new walls
• raising land
• building embankments

The plan also updates the £17 million improvement project that is currently under way at the Foss Barrier.

A public exhibition was held in York in November 2016 for residents and businesses to discuss the options set out in the plan.

If you’re decommissioning a well drilled before 1 October 2013, and you comply with the conditions in this regulatory position statement (RPS), you do not need a mining waste permit to manage the extractive waste generated.

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are special sites designated under the EU Birds Directive to protect rare, vulnerable and migratory birds.

The proposal for Liverpool Bay / Bae Lerpwl is to extend the SPA to support internationally important populations of:

• common tern
• little tern
• little gull

This area is particularly important for the terns as much of the sea around their breeding colonies is the ideal habitat for plunge diving for food.

The proposal is also to add cormorant and red-breasted merganser to the waterbird assemblage as named species.

The proposal is available as a series of separate documents (attached above). You should:

• read the consultation summary that sets out the aims of the proposal
• read the departmental brief that provides the scientific explanation behind the proposal
• use the maps to locate the proposal site and extension area
• read the separate impact assessment on the Welsh portion of the site (available to read on the Natural Resources Wales website in English and Welsh languages)

To download site boundaries as vector polygons in ESRI ArcMap shapefile or Pitney Bowes MapInfo tab:

• go to Natural England’s GIS Digital Boundary Datasets
• scroll to the bottom of the Dataset Downloads page
• choose option 2
• login as a registered user or
• add personal details as a new user and click on ‘register’
• scroll to the bottom of the ‘Dataset Download Selection’ page
• use the Select Data Type drop down menu and select ‘Special Protection Areas (Marine)’

This will download a zip file which you can open in your mapping software.
Select ‘Liverpool Bay’ from the attribute table.

The South Marine Plan is the second English marine plan to be adopted. It covers an area of around 20,000 square kilometres of inshore and offshore waters across 1,000 kilometres of coast line from Folkestone to the river Dart. It is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world, with significant numbers of freight and passenger transport as well as military activity with almost two thirds of Royal Navy ships stationed at Portsmouth. This intense activity and shipping takes place alongside 60 marine protected areas, including nine marine conservation zones and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is one of the most complex and used areas of the English coast line.

The South Marine Plan will help ensure that the right activities happen in the right place and in the right way within the marine environment. It provides a framework that will shape and inform decisions over how the areas’ waters are developed, protected and improved over the next 20 years.

Through its vision for economic, environmental and social prosperity, the South Marine Plan will safeguard environments such as the UNESCO-recognised Jurassic coast, enable sustainable use of its shipping channels, encourage growth in local sectors such as tourism, and protect and enhance essential natural defences against climate change and flooding. This will be achieved through its 12 objectives, the use of natural capital and supporting local policies, all of which have been developed in partnership with local and national organisations, representatives and users of the area.

The adoption of the South Marine Plan is a significant milestone. Marine planning provides an important way of implementing government’s marine policies at a local level, making ambitions tangible, relevant and achievable, improving the wellbeing of coastal communities and supporting a stronger, more sustainable marine economy.