LAW
MARINE PLANNING EVIDENCE AND EMERGING
ISSUES REPORT THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
ONE OF THE MOST FAR REACHING EFFECTS OF THE PASSING OF THE MARINE AND COASTAL ACCESS ACT 2009 WAS IN RESPECT OF MARINE PLANNING. THE ACT REQUIRES THE CREATION OF MARINE PLANS AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT WILL BE SUBJECT TO PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS FOLLOWING RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT IS NOW COMING UNDER PRESSURE FROM SO MANY DIFFERENT USES, NOT LEAST RENEWABLES.
EAST OF ENGLAND On 24 November 2011 year the Marine Management Organisation issued a draft report on Relevant Evidence and Marine Planning Issues in the East of England. The East of England area includes a large proportion of the North Sea out to the median line, and is the first of the UK sea areas to be subjected to marine planning. It is probably no coincidence that this area also contains a large proportion of the UK’s proposed offshore wind farms including the major round 3 wind farms of Dogger Bank and Hornsea. Consultation on the report was due to close on 10 January 2012.
EVIDENCE The report brought together evidence relating to varying uses of the sea, both historically and predicted, ranging from leisure use through military use, aggregate dredging, oil and gas, shipping, fishing and renewables. Other issues however include use for cabling and oil and gas pipelines. All of these uses have the potential to conflict with one another and the idea of the Evidence and Emerging Issues Report was to consult widely on possible conflicts and methods of resolving them.
CONSULTATION WORKSHOPS The Marine Management Organisation ran a number of workshops and very proudly displayed a model at these workshops with the sea area neatly zoned for the various uses. The writer has to admit that he thought the model was somewhat simplistic and naïve. Whilst it may be possible to employ fixed processes and ideas relating to planning on land, the sea is a much more dynamic environment with more variables than constants. For example you may be able to designate a specific area for fishermen to have a clear run at trawling free of obstacles but it is not necessarily the case that the fish will co-operate and be in that area to be caught, if there are movements or fluctuations in their feeding or spawning cycles. Likewise it was somewhat surprising to see that although evidence had been gathered on the sighting of wind farms there was no evidence in the report relating to export cables which clearly have the potential to conflict with other marine uses. Indeed the writer has recently been involved in a successful resolution of a conflict between electricity export cables and designated anchorages and conservancy duties of two port authorities.
RENEWABLEUK RESPONSE Renewable UK issued its response to the evidence and emerging issues report on 6 January 2012. It is interesting to note that it states that the East of England plan area includes 23% of the current UK offshore renewables sites with the potential to generate some 25 gigawatts of power by 2020. Potential conflicts flagged up by Renewables UK include the potential adverse effects on oil and gas producers in relation to Civil Aviation Authority guidance for a nine-nautical mile consultation area around any offshore helicopter destination and the fact that ports and shipping may be adversely affected by the deployment of renewable generation - but that any such adverse effect is likely to be mitigated by an increase in shipping movements in respect of the construction and operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms.
SUMMARY
The East of England is the first area to go through the marine planning process and no doubt future plan areas will benefit from lessons learned during the current process. However what is clear is marine planning is here to stay and is a fundamental part of the offshore renewables process. All readers are therefore highly recommended to visit the MMO website and, in particular to access the marine planning portal to view the information upon which the MMO are currently formulating its plans.
Andrew Oliver Andrew Jackson Solicitors
www.andrewjackson.co.uk
e = See enhanced entry online
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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