Marine planning in England aims to balance competing uses of marine space and resources through a process established by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. The legislation requires marine plans that translate high-level national policies into spatial guidance for regional plan areas. The first plans are being developed for the East marine plan areas through stakeholder engagement, evidence gathering, and defining key issues to guide sustainable decisions about marine activities. Challenges include the complexity of planning at a large scale across environmental, economic, and social factors while balancing competing interests. Lessons indicate the need for political commitment, dedicated resources, and flexibility in the long-term planning process.

1. International MSP Symposium
16th May 2012
Marine Planning in England
What are we learning?
Paul Gilliland
Marine Planning
Development Manager

2. Outline
• What and why
• Legislation and high level policy
• Where and when
• Costs and resourcing
• Evidence, analysis, research
• Stakeholder engagement
• Defining key issues
• Outputs/outcomes
• Challenges
• Lessons

3. Why do we need marine planning?
Overarching driver – Increasing and competing use
of marine space and resources, impacting on the
sustainability of the marine environment

4. Perceived benefits but also expectations
• Sustainable use of marine resources
• Greater certainty for investors/developers
• Improved basis for addressing cumulative effects
• ‘Regional seas’ governance (ecosystem approach)
• Proactive and forward planning
• Plan for new activities and changing technologies
• Framework for consistent decision making
• Cohesion with coastal and terrestrial plans (ICZM)
• Early involvement of stakeholders (“democratic deficit”)

5. Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009
• Long lead in time and preparatory work
• Supported by main political parties (commitment)
• Complex piece of legislation – Licensing, Fisheries,
Nature Conservation, Coastal Access, Marine
planning  “be careful what you wish for”
• Marine Management Organisation (April 2010)
• Planning, licensing, fisheries, conservation delivery
• Cross-government ‘agency’ (£)
• Dedicated ‘core’ planning team (long haul) + in
house support
• Deliberately recruit from different backgrounds
• New organisation!

6. The legal requirement for marine planning
• Aim: contribute to and help deliver sustainable development.
• Integrated approach (important message)
• across environmental, economic and social factors
• across sectors (including interactions, policies)
• with other plans (including terrestrial)
• Marine Policy Statement (MPS): the overarching policy
framework for the UK marine area (UK Govt and Devolved
Administrations)
• Marine Plans will translate the MPS into detailed policy and
spatial guidance for each plan area (MMO, SoS)
• All plan ‘areas’ (sub-divisions around the coast)
• Guide and direct decision makers, including Licensing
• No timetable prescribed but report/review every 3-6 years

7. Marine Policy Statement
• High level framework which should ensure consistency
• 22 Goals (High Level Marine Objectives):
• Achieving a sustainable marine economy
• Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society
• Living within environmental limits
• Promoting good governance
• Using sound science responsibly
• Strategic environmental, social and economic considerations
• Policy objectives for key activities/sectors
• Generally broad (only explicit target is for renewables)
• No a priori prioritisation  to be done at plan level

8. Where and when
Boundaries
• Limit of tidal influence to ‘EEZ’
• Potentially very wide scope
and variation in level of detail
Overall timetable
• Estimate 2 years for each plan
(2.5 if ‘examination’ required)
• Assume two at a time
• Complete first cycle by 2021
• Evaluate ≤ 3 years  Review?
Reassessed recently, end
date unchanged but overlap
(lead in time)

9. East marine plan areas
58,700 km2
Timeline (two years) Inshore and Offshore
• Dec 2010: Announce, prep 2 plans, 1 process (87%)
• April 2011: Start
• Feb 2012: Evidence & Issues
• May: Draft Objectives/Vision
• July: Options
• Sept: draft plan to government
• Jan 2013: consultation
• April 2013: revised
Relentless  share ‘lead’ role;
more time to pause?
Developing whilst doing 
take longer the first time?

10. “Show me someone that’s never made a mistake and I’ll
show you someone that’s never made anything”
 a difficult message to get over and work around

11. Resource planning : Costs (and Benefits)
• ‘Impact Assessment’ of planning vs ‘do nothing’. Benefits:
• Best estimate: £487 million [$779m] over twenty years
• Environmental benefits difficult to quantify
• Savings to business sectors, e.g. activity costs
• Costs
• £2.7 million [$4.3m] per plan (all elements, e.g. Staff > evidence
gathering > Sustainability Appraisal > consultation)
• £0.54 million [$0.86m] per review (assumes 20% of original
costs) every six years
• Resources : core funding from UK government
• Too early to judge but for now £ seems less limiting than time
• Demands may fluctuate over time but ‘same’ resource

12. Technical Evidence and analysis
• National: Strategic Scoping Report
• The ‘big picture’ to set plan area in context
• Includes analysis of potential future opportunities
• Inform plan-level objectives (and priorities?)
• Research: Various gaps but timing a challenge
• Co-location
• Recreation interests: distribution
• Cumulative effects
• Socio-economic study: help to understand the impact of
marine planning on different types of coastal community
• East inshore and East offshore data & information
• Substantial data collation /presentation

13. Technical data collation and GIS analysis
• Building on existing projects, e.g.
MCZs, SEA, CP2
• Working with organisations &
data sharing where possible
• Local stakeholders input:
• Data, verification
• On-line marine planning portal
• GIS analysis (iterative, simplify)
• Methods
• Integration

14. Stakeholder engagement – plan areas
•• Local stakeholder engagement
Statements of Public Participation (SPP)
-- informs people of how and when they can become involved
Individual interests and groups
-- published April 2011
Work with existing partnerships, links to other projects (eg MPAs)
-- signed off by Government (Secretary of State, Defra)
No formal bespoke structures or groups
- Liaison officers + range of meetings, workshops, events

15. Participation and Consultation
• December 2011 workshops
• Three locations, ~150 participants
• Marine planning focus inc. ‘Key issues’
• Interactive, various ‘tasks’ inc. Futures
• 90% positive feedback (84 returns)
• The process is as important as the
product
• Different ways to communicate, e.g.
• Drop in sessions
• 3 D model

16. Getting to the point
• Evidence on Key activities, social,
economic & environmental
interests
• Emerging Issues
• For sector delivery, other
sectors, and sustainability
• Several hundred
• Vision and Objectives report
• 58 ‘headline issues’
• Distil further
• Stakeholders to refine?
• More evidence for some?

17. We have Not got all the answers to
everyone’s problems

18. Clarifying/Reassuring - Planning outputs/outcomes
Planning
Prescription
& Decisions
Change over time?
Planning
Signals & Guidance
Increase over time
Evidence Collation
& Analysis

19. Some headline lessons learnt
• Political commitment is critical
• Legislative basis almost certainly essential
• (Dedicated planning body) with a core team is essential
• A framework of principles, goals/objective and policies is a
good start, some prioritisation is even better
• Need allocated resources preferably over a sustained period
• Try to focus - on the key issues, prioritised evidence
• Need a timetable but also some flexibility if possible
particularly in the early days
• Stakeholder engagement - different means, be creative
• Do NOT underestimate the challenge, however good your
planning it will probably take more time and more effort

20. www.marinemanagement.org.uk/marineplanning
Portal: planningportal.marinemanagement.org.uk
Email: planning@marinemanagement.org.uk
Marine Planning team Local
Flamborough Head to Skegness 01472 355112
The Wash to Weybourne 01502 573149
Sheringham to Felixstowe 01502 573149
Marine Planning team Newcastle
0191 376 2790