21st MEETING OF THE SCOTTISH COASTAL FORUM

HELD AT THE MARINE HOTEL, NORTH BERWICK ON THURSDAY 25th MARCH 2004

Present:

Capt. Tony Wilks (Chairman)

Capt. Jim Simpson, Chair, Coastal Strategy Sub-group

Mr Colin Wishart, COSLA

Dr Scot Mathieson, SEPA

Mr Michael Comerford, Maritime & Coastguard Agency

Mr Brian Simpson, Scottish Quality Salmon

Mr John Long, British Geological Society

Mr Derek McGlashan, CoastNET and CBI

Mr Darren Kindleysides, Scottish Environment LINK

Apologies:

Mr Neil Black, visitscotland

Dr Richard Luxmoore, Scottish Environment LINK

Mr Douglas McLeod, Assoc. of Scottish Shellfish Growers

Mr Steve Cummings, sportscotland

Mr George Dobbie, British Ports Association

Mr Maf Smith, Scottish Renewables Forum

Mr Ian Pritchard, Crown Estate

Dr Sandy Downie, Scottish Natural Heritage

In Attendance:

Mr Ian Melville, SEERAD-CANH

Mr Manson Wright, SEERAD-CANH (Secretary)

Mr Stephen Midgeley, SCF Coastal Project Officer

Mr Ian Duncan, SEDD, Planning

Mr Donald Cook, Defence Estates (MOD)

Mr Ricky Verrall, SEERAD- WED

1. Chairman's opening remarks

1.1 The Chairman introduced the meeting by welcoming everyone and in particular welcoming a new member to the SCF for the first time, John Long from the British Geological Survey. He also extended a welcome to Helen Corbet from the Forth Estuary Forum.

1.2 A special thanks was also given to the SCF Strategy sub-group for all the work they had put in contributing to the production of the draft Strategy.

1.3 Regrettably there had still been no response from the invitation to join from UKOOA or Scottish Water, but it was hoped that they would some time in the future join the Forum.

Action - Secretary to continue dialogue with UKOOA & Scottish Water.

2. Minutes of the last meeting (Paper SCF/20/1)

The minutes were accepted as a true record of the meeting.

3. Matters arising

3.1 On May 18th RSPB and RTPI will present and discuss the recent report they have commissioned on Marine Spatial Planning. It will be hosted by the Scottish Coastal Forum at Victoria Quay as a means of disseminated the findings and facilitating debate on this relevant issue. The report has been written by David Tyldesely Associates.

3.2 SEPA will launch their consultation document on the River Basin Management Planning in April this year. It will be made available to as wide an audience as possible and the CPO will receive a copy directly from SEPA. If copies are not received then please contact the CPO or SEPA directly.

4. Strategy for the Coast and Inshore Waters

4.1 Capt Jim Simpson introduced the paper SCF/21/2. The 10th May is the final deadline for the document to be sent to the printers. It was recognised that the document had been sent out at the last minute and the group will not have been able to read the majority of the document. The Sub-group are asking that the plenary agree with the process set out for the final stages of production and that they consult on a small scale within their organisations to have replies back by the 25th April.

4.2 Questions were presented to the plenary on how they would prefer to take forward the strategy after its launch. The Scottish Executive were asked how they perceived the document. Their reply was that the methodology was ambitious in its production and they were was unsure of how it would turn out, but the process of being inclusive has been successful. It was noted that the covering letter that will be sent out with the strategy should highlight the effort of everyone involved.

4.3 The Scottish Executive policy is that all responses to consultations are made public unless it is specifically stated that the comments should remain confidential by the contributor.

4.4 It was agreed that the SCF would retain ownership of the document once published and with a view to reviewing and updating in the future. The Sub-group will be disbanded once the strategy is published but the Scottish Executive would appreciate a small group to remain in place that responds on a week by week basis to issues arising from the strategy. Dealing with the large plenary group is time consuming when tackling short term issues. The close working of the sub group has lead to a team spirit being developed that should not be lost, or at least recognised as a value in the process of creating the strategy. In any Forum or partnership it is the personal dynamics of the group that contribute to its effectiveness.

4.5 The Annual letter to the Minister will set out the strategy and deliver a reminder that the Scottish Coastal Forum has been undertaking all this work which comes to fruition with the launch of the strategy.

4.6 Agreement was reached on the 10th of June as the launch date of the strategy. With this date in place the staff will organise more details for the day such as location (probably Edinburgh, and close to VQ) timing, food, photo opportunity.

4.7 Comments on the location of the topic papers in the strategy were requested from the group. Options were to move the topic papers to an annex or leave them where they were. MC stated that the executive summary should be important in guiding the reader to the relevant sections for them. It was noted that the topic papers are important pieces of work that define the strategy and should not be removed as this could be seen to lessen their importance.

5. Strategic Framework for the Marine Environment Paper SCF/21/3

5.1 Ricky Verrall from the Scottish Executive, Water Environment Directorate introduced his paper by outlining the background to the framework. This took the form of;

What ministers want to address

• Directives
• Initiatives
• Consent regimes
• Partnership Agreement commitment
• Gaps/overlaps
• Governance

Objectives

• Building on outputs
• Improved participation
• Clearer vision and targets
• Management mechanism
• Consider options for marine legislation

Consultation paper

• Value and pressures
• Obligations and meeting them
• The vision
• A strategy for the coast
• National coastline/marine national parks
• Development consents review

Questions

• Views on the vision?
• Effectiveness of current measures - need for change?
• What goals and deadlines?
• Need for structural/legislative change?
• Coastline/marine national parks?
• How to manage/when to review?

Timing

• Open at end of March
• Close at end of July
• Analyse/report August/September
• Draft framework by end December

5.2 The consequences of Penny Brooks' 'Review of Marine Consents' was discussed. Scottish Ministers would like to be able to respond to the review and any possible consequences for Scotland when it is published. The EU Marine strategy is also an important driver for the current work. The current work defines the marine environment as out to 12nm which fits with the definition set out by the SCF. Questions were raised on the overlap of the two documents (SCF Strategy and SE Marine Framework)

5.3 It was noted that the covering letter for the strategy could include a statement on how the SCF document could fit with all the other work underway currently.

5.4 The consultation paper on the Marine Framework will be an agenda item at the next plenary meeting.

Action -Secretariat

6. Project Officer Progress Report

6.1 A general update of the work of the CPO was not available as the work programme has been dominated by the Strategy. This had been agreed as the priority at the first steering group meeting.

6.2 Following on from CPO's previous role with the Forth Estuary Forum the review of the coastal plans inventory was discussed. It was due for review in 2002 but has been put off with the strategy production, and in the interim period many other database have been created. The Forth has been developing a plans and information database, The Cromarty Firth has just completed a years study into a coastal database. Reviewing the coastal plans inventory would need to consider the regional and local requirements, it is a good example of the need for integration, which can provide value to coastal management. The specific of how this will occur are not available yet and this leads on to how will this be developed?

7. Members Update Forum & AOCB

7.1 Helen Corbet - Forth Estuary Forum PO - introduced the latest information on the current activities of the Forum.

7.2 Stephen Midgley, CPO - The CPO presented the paper SCF/21/4. This asked specific questions on the role of the local partnerships in implementing the strategy and ICZM in general.

7.3 It was perceived that the partnerships will use the strategy as a tool for making arguments to funding bodies or organisations generally. Actions within the strategy can be linked to the partnerships as the most suitable organisation to deliver them.

The partnerships were seen as a means of process support, who could undertake consultations on behalf of various organisations or work as the broker in conflict resolution.

The idea of bringing the local coastal partnerships together as an informal group to work together on national issues, or as a group to deliver projects with European Funding was discussed and received favourably.

Secretary - Asked if Prof. Bill Ritchie would be a potential speaker at the next plenary meeting to present the work of the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Group. It was agreed to investigate.

Mike Comerford, MCA - Dealt with some confusion that related to the MCA by explaining there were no planned closures around Scotland. The New Chief Executive of MCA is Capt Blythe who is now in post.

Derek MCGlashan CoastNET and CBI - As the CoastNET representative he noted the conference in Leeds, (that the SCF attended) it is a DEFRA funded conference focusing on England. Much of the work of DEFRA linked to CoastNET has been to develop the English partnerships potential. He mentioned that if CoastNET wish to do similar or related work in Scotland then the Scottish Executive may wish support CoastNET on a similar basis to DEFRA.

Dave Long, BGS - Updated members on the BGS involvement in a coastal mapping project. This is a multi-agency project and has looked at Canadian and Norwegian experience of coastal mapping.

SEERAD - The National stocktake was due to report in Mid -April and the information will be given to the CPO to disseminate in Scotland. The Irish Sea project is also due to report soon as this work has now been completed.

Darren Kindleysides SE LINK - The marine spatial planning seminar on the 28th May in Victoria Quay, Edinburgh will present the RTPI and RSPB funded report. The report has been written by David Tyldesley.

Chairman - The Chairman thanked the meeting and offered congratulations to both Emma Jordan and Cathy Tilbrook on the safe arrival of their children and to Darren Kindleysides who has secured a post in Australia. He also offered best wishes to Ian Duncan who was taking retirement at the end of April and thanked him for his long support of the Forum.

The members concurred and joined the Chairman in offering their congratulations and best wishes.

8. Dates of next meeting

10 June 2004 for launch of strategy. Venue to be arranged.

16 September (Provisional)