Clyde Space: Developing a Local Marine Spatial Plan for the Firth of Clyde

John Donnelly, the Project Officer for the Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI) Clyde Pilot spoke about the development of a Local Marine Spatial Plan for the Firth of Clyde.

Please click here for the full presentation or read on for a summary of the talk.

John began by describing the national Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI) and how it came about.  The Scottish Executive instigated the Scottish Sustainable Marine Environment Initiative (SSMEI) in November 2002. The SSMEI is intended to inform future Scottish Executive policy with respect to management of the marine environment.  The principle aim of the SSMEI is to develop new management framework options for the sustainable development of Scotland's marine environment.  These options should embrace the concept of the ecosystem based approach and will be tested through the implementation of a number of pilot management schemes. The Clyde Pilot is one of these schemes, with the others being located in the Shetland Isles, Berwickshire Coast and the Sound of Mull.  

The pilots will look at a number of different possible management options, with each pilot looking at one new management framework option.  

Shetland

• MSP in context of Local Authority with significant powers in marine planning and development
  
• Local Authority lead

Berwickshire

• Enhanced community engagement
• No MSP element
• Similar to Local Costal Partnership

Sound of Mull

• Regulator / Stakeholder Partnership
• Single Local Authority
• Developing a Local Marine Spatial Plan

Firth of Clyde

• Regulator / Stakeholder Partnership
• Multiple Local Authorities
• Developing a Local Marine Spatial Plan

The presentation then looked in more detail at the SSMEI Clyde Pilot.  It is one of four pilots across Scotland being delivered as part of the third phase of the National SSMEI programme.  The Clyde Pilot has been tasked with the development and delivery of more integrated and sustainable management of the marine and coastal areas of the Firth of Clyde through an effective and integrated stakeholder-regulator partnership.  It aims to achieve this through the creation of a Local Marine Spatial Plan (LMSP) together with improved decision support mechanisms and integrated decision making.  These will be underpinned by the application of an ecosystem based approach to sustainable development. 

John then went on to give some background to the Clyde Pilot, a description of how the LSMP has developed so far and showed where the LMSP fits into a possible hierarchy of Marine Spatial Plans.  He also explained how existing plans, policies and strategies will be taken into account in the LMSP development.  An important aspect of the plan is that it will be developed through integrating the various sectors within the Clyde while being underpinned by the ecosystem based approach.  Though voluntary in nature it is envisioned that the adoption of the LMSP by regulators and local authorities will underpin its delivery.

The Clyde Pilot started in July 2006 and will run for a period of 3 years.  It’s three main outputs are a LMSP, improved decision support mechanism and a common information resource.  The information resource will be housed within the Firth of Clyde Forum so that it can be used into the future after the completion of the Clyde Pilot.  The Firth of Clyde area was chosen for a pilot due to the complex interactions of the different sectors and activities within it, as well as the presence of the already well-established Firth of Clyde Forum from which the pilot study could take experience to its benefit.

“A Marine Spatial Plan is a document with maps and supporting text, which provides the basis for future management and a framework for consistent decision making, within a specific area of the marine environment.”

A Local Marine Spatial Plan is “An integrated, policy-based approach to the regulation, management and protection of the marine environment, including the allocation of space, that addresses the multiple, cumulative and potentially conflicting uses of the sea and thereby facilitates sustainable development”             MSPP Consortium February 2006

The Key aim of the LMSP is to balance the competing demands for the finite quantity of marine resource within the Firth of Clyde by:

• Providing economic, social and environmental benefit through efficient use of marine resource, and ...
• Provide a more effective connection between the marine management systems, the coastal environment and the terrestrial planning system

The objectives of the LMSP are:

1. Provide a tool that will enable intelligent decision making to ensure sustainable development
2. Develop a suite of forward looking management policies by regulators that integrate with each other and the existing terrestrial planning system
3. Contribute to Strategic Environmental Assessments undertaken within the Firth of Clyde
4. Integrating with existing and future sectoral planning
5. Contributing to local authority planning that impacts on the marine environment
6. Contributing to delivering Water Framework Directive requirements in the Marine Environment.

John brought the presentation to a close by describing the stage the pilot is at now.  It is in the process of gathering data to: assess the current state; put the plan into context; identify gaps (for example the lack of a habitat map for the Clyde); and, create a baseline currently used by regulators for planning decisions.  The next steps for the SSMEI Clyde Pilot are further data collection, sectoral planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment of the LMSP.

Further information on the National SSMEI can be found at
www.scottish-marine-sustainability.co.uk

Further information on the SSMEI Clyde Pilot can be found at www.clydeforum.org/SSMEI.
 
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