I wonder if Bempton Cliff’s seabirds arriving for this year’s breeding season will notice anything different?

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) today releases the final marine plans for the East of England inshore and offshore areas, a total area of almost 60,000km2. This is a huge area, which extends out into the North Sea to our borders with neighbouring countries, but also includes the coastline and estuaries from Flamborough Head round to Felixtowe.

We’ve had land planning for over 60 years, but this is the first ever time an equivalent plan has been adopted for an area of our marine environment. Seems strange to think that we have never had it before!

 

Image from the MMO. © British Crown, NERC, SeaZone Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved. [SZ042010.001] © Crown Copyright and database right 2012. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence No. 100049981. 

These plan areas include really important homes for marine wildlife, from the Wash out to the Dogger Bank, but also really important areas for renewable energy, aggregate extraction and fisheries, all of which we need. The task of these plans is to ensure that, in future, these activities take place in the most appropriate places for the environment and for local communities, as well for the activities themselves.

So why do we need these plans, and what do we think of them?

Well, from the RSPB’s perspective, what was clear ten years ago is still clear now: sectoral management on its own has led to the continued and unsustainable depletion of natural resources, and to serious declines in the overall health of marine ecosystems.

As a society, we have developed rapidly, and continue to do so, but at great cost to the environment, which has been detached out from the rest of decision making and placed in a “conservation” box in the corner (and which even then is consistently undermined).

The consequence of this sectoral approach at sea has been that activities continue to take place in areas unsuitable or unable to support them. This isn’t just bad for the environment; it causes delays, costs and conflicts for users themselves, limiting economic growth.

(c) Chris Gomersall, rspb-images.com

For us, having a clear and spatial plan that recognises (to the best of our knowledge) where the most important places for seabirds and waterbirds are at different times of year, is a key step forward. It allows the MMO to use this information proactively to guide activities to avoid the worst impacts happening before they occur.

The important thing is that there is a collective vision of where we want these marine areas to look like in 30 years time, and how we are going to get there. This forward-looking approach has been sorely lacking up to now.

That’s the theory anyway.

So what do the plans themselves look like? Unfortunately, in the previous versions of the plans we have seen, the reality is somewhat different. In our response to the consultation on these plans last October, we stated:

“We believe the plans set a worrying precedent for the future direction and ambition of marine planning in England, in relation to the unbalanced way in which this draft plan strategically encourages growth of most activities with no equivalent strategic consideration of the environment...  it appears impossible for the policies as they stand to deliver the strategic objectives and high-level vision of plan areas in good environmental and ecological status.”

Very “policy-speak”, but the point is that at the moment, while the high level talk is good, the policies themselves risk being seen simply as a development brochure for the North Sea. We need many of these activities, but the plan does not offer strong views on where these should take place in future, and little evidence that the environment has been considered at the planning stage.  I have also yet to see the commitment and buy-in from across government departments and industries to place these plans at the heart of their own decisions.

Much to improve on, in other words. Nevertheless, we still see the opportunity for marine planning to be a force for good for our marine wildlife. It’s also still very early days (compared to land planning anyway!) and we very much hope the MMO has learnt from these plans as it plans for the rest of English waters.

Marine planning is here to stay, no doubt about it, and the theory is there to say it can provide environmental gains together with economic development.

So, a moment to take stock, and take a moment also to look at the MMO’s video which explains marine planning a bit more. Now the fun part begins in the East – implementation. How will the status quo change as a result of these plans?  We’ll see.

(c) MMO