The North West Coastal Forum was formed in May 2000. Originally hosted by Government Office for the North West and later by the North West Regional Assembly / 4NW as an independent partnership of coastal stakeholders to help with coastal policy development it currenlty has a Management Board with representatives from over 25 coastal stakeholder organisations, an elected Chair, and carries out a wide range of activities. In 2010 our hosting arrangements changed and we are now based in Sefton Council offices but remain independent and entirely self-funded.
We have a broad and long-sighted vision to promote and deliver integrated coastal zone management for the long term sustainability of the North West’s coast. Summed up by the phrase, ‘Making the most of the North West Coast’ this vision incorporates all three pillars of sustainability: Environment, Economics and Society.
Over the past 11 years the Forum has been involved in and delivered a range of projects relating to all 3 pillars, and a key role for the Forum remains the influencing of policy and strategy which affects our coastline and the communities that live and work there.
Our projects are as wide ranging and diverse as the coast itself, from sustainable fisheries, to coastal community demographics, and from developing policy tools to measure coastal sustainability to championing coastal access for all users.
Our policy work has included acting as the expert group to help the North West Regional Assembly develop regional coastal planning policy for the Regional Spatial Strategy. A draft coastal strategy for the region was produced in 2008 to influence the content of the then planned integrated regional strategy, RS2010. With the demise of regional strategic planning we are now working on producing a document that incorporates the vision from the coastal strategy and provides a snapshot of strategic activity from across the North West that supports the vision.
More recently we have worked closely with Defra and other bodies to influence the development of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and continue to assist with development and implementation of other legislation, including the Water Framework Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Bathing Water Directive.