As part of our on-going engagement in the South marine plan areas, we want to understand your views on the different ways of achieving the draft marine plan objectives and vision and any alternative approaches to developing marine plan policies.
This is part of what we call our Options Process. Your views on building an understanding on what options are available when building the plan are incredibly important. We have published more details about the report and how you can put forward your views which you can access by following from our consultation system.
There are other ways in which people have provided us with their views. We were pleased that over 130 people attended three workshops in Brighton, Southampton and Exmouth and we heard your views about what would be the preferred way to develop plan policy in the South. It was great to see local authorities, those with an interest in fishing, recreational boating, conservation and biodiversity amongst others join with us to discuss the options for the plan. We will be publishing more information about the outcome of the workshops soon. Until then, if you haven’t provided your views, make sure you access the link above before 4 March 2015.
The next stage of the marine planning process in the South will be the development of the draft plans which will include the plan policies. Formal consultation on the draft plans is anticipated to begin in Spring 2016 so there is an opportunity later in the process to provide your views too.
Information on the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) can be accessed online:
Website: www.gov.uk/mmo
Twitter: @the_MMO
Facebook: /MarineManagementOrganisation
Sign up for future blog updates here.