Current Projects

North West Coastal Trail

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SUSTAIN

This is a pan-European project to develop a universal tool to deliver sustainability on Europe’s coasts. The project, part funded by the EU ERDF under the Interreg IVC programme, is running for 3 years from 2010 to December 2012. It involves 12 partners from 11 members states (UK, Netherlands, France, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Portugal and Spain).

The SUSTAIN project is all about assessing sustainability and strengthening operational policy on the coast and we are working on development of a self-assessment sustainability toolkit for coastal local authorities. Partners are also sharing best practice on a range of coastal management issues and some of the shared experience is already being implemented by other partners.

In England the work is being led by Sefton Council who are joined by the NWCF as ‘external experts’. In addition to the core project work we are also the lead partner on communications work for the project and the final international conference will be held in Southport in September 2012 (18-20) in conjunction with the Forum’s biennial regional coastal conference.

Because of the nature of the project the majority of outputs will not be available until project completion in Autumn 2012 but newsletters and an information flyer about the project are given below:

We are pleased to announce the date and location of the  SUSTAIN international conference has been announced. Delivering Sustainable Coasts will take place in Southport, UK on 18th and 19th September. See below for more details:

To find out more visit www.sustain-eu.net.

North West Awards for Coastal Excellence

In 2010 the North West Coastal Forum established a new biennial award scheme: NW ACE. The scheme is designed to recognise achievement of individuals, community groups and organisations, both commercial and public sector in contributing to the delivery of a more sustainable coast in North West England. There are 3 categories: Coastal Champion open to individuals; Coastal Community Action open to voluntary groups; and Coastal Best Practice open to commercial and public sector organisations for particular projects.

The nominations process for the 2012 awards will open on 15th February 2012. Details on eligibility and how to apply are contained in the nomination forms below:

The 2010 awards were presented by the North West Coastal Forum Chairman, Graham Lymbery, during the 2010 Regional Coastal Conference at the Maritime Museum, Liverpool in December. The winners were:

• Ian Rowlands (Coastal Champion);
• Wyre Borough Council and Birse Coastal (Coastal Best Practice)
• Friends of the Estuary (Lytham) (Coastal Community Action).

Details of the 2010 winning and highly commended entries are in the document below:

Partnership Working in Support of Marine Spatial Planning in the Irish Sea

The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 mandated the development of marine planning in UK waters and this approach is also recommended by the EU’s maritime policy. However in the Irish Sea there are 6 different national adminsitrations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales together with the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland), all at different stages of development re marine planning. In order to facilitate good dialogue and preempt potential conflicts, the North West Coastal Forum has partnered with Liverpool University and the National Oceanography Centre to organise and facilitate a series of Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded workshops bringing together planners from all 6 administrations to network and share information.

This project has been funded by the United Kingdom’s ESRC and aims to connect the partnership working findings of the recent ESRC/NERC Trans-disciplinary Seminar Series on ‘New Approaches to Managing Ecosystem Services in the Marine Environment’ to the emerging marine spatial planning arrangements for the Irish Sea in order to facilitate improved transnational stakeholder collaboration.

The objectives of the project are:

1. To disseminate the partnership working findings of the recent ESRC/NERC Trans-disciplinary Seminar Series to a broad range of stakeholders with an interest in marine spatial planning for the Irish Sea;

2. To explore how transnational partnership working might assist national level marine spatial planning activity in the Irish Sea;

3. To draw upon wider European experience of transnational partnership working related to marine spatial planning in order to inform discussion about possible new arrangements in the Irish Sea context;

4. To review existing transnational partnership initiatives in the Irish Sea in order to consider how these relate to the future needs of marine
spatial planning and to identify potential gaps; and

5. To develop an agreed plan of action to foster improved transnational partnership working in support of national level marine spatial planning
and a joined up approach to action in the Irish Sea.

These objectives have guided the content of two stakeholder workshops in Liverpool and Dublin that were held in spring 2011. Following the two meetings, an overview report has been prepared by Sue Kidd of Liverpool University; this includes summaries of stakeholder discussions and next steps to be taken by stakeholders to facilitate further transnational partnership working in the Irish Sea.

The organisers would like to thank all those who participated in the events for their constructive contributions to the discussions which are distilled into a report which can be downloaded here.  Work is now underway to carry forward the plan of action that was identified by stakeholders.

For more information about the project including all presentations and to download the final project report see the project webpages

Headlands to Headspace

The North West Coastal Forum have been involved in supporting the Morecambe Bay Partnership in submitting an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a Morecambe Bay Landscape Partnership Scheme. The Scheme will support communities to restore, enhance and celebrate the natural and built heritage of Morecambe Bay, within the context of its stunning landscape character, through a series of projects led by local people. The first round bid has been successful and the project will now move forward into a development phase. To learn more, visit the Morecambe Bay Partnership website: www.morecambebay.org.uk

Irish Sea Conservation Zones

The Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 also called for the development of an ‘ecologically coherant network of marine protected areas’. To go alongside Special Protected Areas (SPAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) – a new designation created by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 – are to be introduced. These do afford particular ‘foci’ species and habitats protection but are able to take into consideration of socio-economic factors in determing the best placement of the protected areas. The Irish Sea Conservation Zones is a project to help develop these areas by involving stakeholders in the North West. The North West Coastal Forum contributes to this as a part of the Irish Sea Regional Stakeholder group, which has invited stakeholders from all interestgroups and has been meeting since early 2010 to develop recommendations for the location of MCZs in the Irish Sea. To find out more about the project visit www.irishseaconservation.org.uk

Local Coastal Partnerships

The North West Coastal Forum supports coastal partnerships around the North West. PISCES – the Partnership of Irish Sea Coast and Estuary Strategies - includes all the North West’s coastal partnerships and our two coastal Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and PISCES operates as a sub-group of the Coastal Forum. The Chair of PISCES, Susannah Bleakley of Morecambe Bay Partnership, sits on the Coastal Forum Board to ensure good local issues can be brought to the Board for consideration. PISCES includes the Wirral Coastal Partnership, Duddon Estuary Partnership, Morecambe Bay Partnership, Ravenglass Coastal Partnership, Sefton Coast Partnership and Solway Firth Partnership together with the Arnside/Silverdale and Solway Coast AONBs.

NWCF also actively supports the work of the Coastal Partnerships Network (CPN) - a national grouping of over 50 local coastal partnerships. See www.coastalpartnershipsnetwork.org.uk for more information.