Last autumn we held the first of our engagement sessions with relevant public authorities who will have duties in relation to the WNMP under S58 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009). In order to help these relevant Public Authorities, understand their role we’ve established the Marine Planning Decision Maker’s Group. The group will meet for the second time in February and will be discussing the implementation guidance and case studies – which will give practical examples of decision making under the WNMP. For more information on the group or if you think your organisation should be a member visit our webpages.

Given feedback on the draft WNMP, we convened a Technical Working Group to consider the Tidal Lagoon Policy and results of the Sustainability Appraisal and Habitats Regulation Assessment. The group met for the first time in September and several times since then and have been helping us shape different options for the Energy Low Carbon policy within the WNMP. Thank you to the group for all of their hard work and we will be receiving their final comments within the next week to help us shape the ELC policy within the WNMP.

The monitoring and reporting subgroup are looking for new members, particularly from the sectors of energy, industry and the NGOs. The group meets virtually every few months and is tasked with providing stakeholder input to the approach to monitoring and reporting on the WNMP post adoption. Get in touch with Rebecca for more information.   

Welsh Government has awarded £24,500 to Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum (PCF) to part fund their Wales Activity Mapping Project. The project will map out the current activity in South West Welsh waters and will be a collaborative stakeholder project developed and managed by PCF. Updated data and a new approach to understanding carrying capacity and impacts on designated sites, will help address key evidence needs identified in the draft WNMP. For more information on the project or to get involved contact Paul or Alec.

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network Management Framework 2018-2023 and MPA Network Management Action Plan 2018-2019 have been published. MPAs are an important consideration in marine planning. The Framework and Action Plan set out for the first time all the information relevant for the management of the MPA network across Wales for maintaining and improving its condition. Section 4.1 draws attention to the importance of strategic planning as part of managing our network of MPAs.

We are undertaking a project to look at planning practice in relation to cross-border areas in anticipation of the first WNMP. Recent stakeholder meetings and workshops have considered how we can best support the management of cross-border areas and reduce any uncertainty at the Marine Plan area boundaries. This project builds on that engagement and will lay the groundwork for ongoing cross-border co-operation and management.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) will be running a series of face to face workshops and online engagement on the development of a number of their plans. The plans for south west and north west share a border with our WNMP. The engagement will focus on; preferred draft policies, draft supporting text for policies including on implementation; and the next steps in marine planning. The online engagement and workshops will run until 28 February. We are working closely with the MMO to share good practice and understanding in relation to marine planning.

Members of the Marine Planning team attended the Irish Sea Maritime Forum biennial conference in the National Assembly for Wales’ iconic Pierhead Building on 15 January. It was the first time it has been held in Cardiff and it was great to see what other exciting projects are at work in the Irish Sea. The agenda covered the effects of Climate Change on our coastline, an update on marine planning and marine protected areas across the other administrations and stakeholder breakout sessions. If you were unable to make the conference the presentations are available on the website.