Marine and Coastal Access Bill 

Marine and Coastal Access Bill 

The Government committed to introducing a Marine Bill in this current session of Government. The Bill covers UK waters exclusing the territorial waters adjacent to Scotland and Northern Ireland who are developing their own parallel legislation. The proposed legislation is likely to introduce a number of arrangements that are of interest to recreational boating, namely:

• A Marine Management Organisation
• Marine spatial planning
• Streamlining the consenting arrangements for marine and coastal developments
• A network of nationally important marine protected areas

Scotland has already established Marine Scotland on the 1st April 2009 as their management organisation which will be responsible for managing Scotland's seas.

The RYA and British Marine Federation (BMF) have been active members of the Review of Marine Nature Conservation (RMNC) and have continued this involvement in the delivery of a draft Marine Bill which has subsequently become the Marine and Coastal Access Bill. The RYA has responded to the various consultations in the development of the Bill and has proposed amendments to be taken up in the House of Lords as it is currently debated. We want to ensure that clubs are not adversly affected by new dredging licencing, recreational boating is not singled out from other navigation for management and that sustainability is really at the core of the Bill with socio-economic issues are taken into account in the designation of marine protected areas.  

In addition to the Marine and Coastal Access Bill, the EU is developing both a Maritime Policy and a Marine Policy. More information can be found in the Briefing Note.