Laurence Browning, a Marine Advisor at Natural England, will use Allonby Bay as a case-study – outlining the features of the site and the evidence required for designation.

1. Allonby Bay Marine Conservation
Zone
Laurence Browning, Natural England

2. Outline
• Background to MCZs
• Allonby Bay overview
• Reference area
• Features
• Tranche 2
• Natural England's role
• Questions

4. Background
• Marine And Coastal Access Act 2009
• Regional Projects
• Stakeholder led
• Ecological Network Guidance
• Recommendations Sept 2011

5. Allonby Bay rMCZ - Overview
• Adjoins southern end of Solway Firth
Special Area of Conservation
• Intertidal and subtidal
Reference area
• Site originally contained a recommended
Reference Area
• RAs not being taken forward in current
form
• Features are still in wider site

6. Features of Allonby Bay
• Broadscale habitats proposed by regional project:
– A1.1 High energy intertidal rock
– A2.7 Intertidal biogenic reefs
– A5.1 Subtidal coarse sediment
– A5.2 Subtidal sand
• Habitat Features of Conservation Importance proposed by regional
project:
– Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds
– Peat and clay exposures
– Honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata) reefs
– Subtidal sands and gravels

7. A1.1 High energy intertidal rock

8. A2.7 Intertidal biogenic reefs

9. A5.1 Subtidal coarse sediment

10. A5.2 Subtidal sand

11. Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds

12. Peat and clay exposures

13. Honeycomb worm (Sabellaria alveolata) reefs

14. Subtidal sands and gravels? Others?

15. Allonby Bay as a Tranche 2 MCZ
• 37 sites announced 24th
Feb
• 3 in inshore Irish Sea region
• Gap analysis: Which sites fill gaps in the network?
• Ecological coherence and biogeographic scale
• Following NE advice, Defra will decide which sites and
features to take through to public consultation
The long list

16. Natural England and MCZs
• MCZs are designated directly by Defra in contrast with e.g. SSSIs
• Natural England has four distinct roles in the MCZ Project:
1. Project management;
2. Providing advice to Government;
3. Engaging as a stakeholder in the development of MCZ
recommendation;
4. Build support and understanding of the MCZ Project.

17. Natural England’s advice
• Covers:
– Adequacy of recommended features to meet guidance
– Confidence in feature presence and extent
– Vulnerability assessment of features (or direct judgement of
feature condition)
– Setting Conservation Objectives / Management Approach
– Site risk
– General site characterisation

18. Timeline
• Advice on Region Projects' recommendations (all 127) July 2012
with amendments later in 2012
• Tranche 1 consultation Dec 2012 – March 2013
• Tranche 1 Post-consultation advice August 2013
• Tranche 1 sites designated Dec 2013
• Announcement of Tranche 2 ‘long list’ Feb 2014
• Tranche 2 Pre-consultation advice August 2014
• Tranche 2 consultation ~early 2015
• Tranche 2 post-consultation advice ~summer 2015
• Tranche 2 designation ~late 2015

19. Public consultation
• Defra will announce
• Chance to submit information on anything that could affect the sites
being consulted on:
– Biological data
– Socio-economic

20. Thank you! Questions?