Integrated and sustainable decision making relies on access to information. The marine spatial plan will capture key information about the Firth of Clyde, in both map and text formats, and will provide a valuable tool for future decision making. In the process of developing the marine spatial plan, the project team will access numerous published and unpublished references to the Firth of Clyde and will also identify relevant data sets. In addition to feeding into the formulation of the marine spatial plan, the information gathered will form the basis for a web-based Common Information Resource for the Firth of Clyde. This resource will support the national objective of high quality data provision for the marine environment and will assist stakeholders and regulators in developing plans and projects within the pilot area.

Ultimately, it is hoped that this resource will be linked into a web-based portal, to enable users to search for information using a variety of criteria, including geographical location. This would enable comprehensive information relating to a particular site to be accessed form a single source. Such a tool could also be developed to provide a guide to the consents process associated with any given type of development.

Given the limited lifespan of the Clyde Pilot and the project’s linkages to the work of the Firth of Clyde Forum, it is proposed that the common information resource, and any search tools developed for it, be housed within the Forum website in order to ensure continuity of access.