Regional News

The North West Coastal Forum is Now a Charity!

We are delighted to announce that as from February 1st 2024 the North West Coastal Forum is now a registered charity (no. 1206825). This means some changes to the way we are managed as we are now a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with a Board of Trustees and an Expert Advisory Committee with voting rights to

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Call for Trustees for the North West Coastal Forum

Closing date Monday 1st May 2023 The North West Coastal Forum – established in May 2000 as a multi-sector non-profit partnership – is setting out on a new journey as a registered charity (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) (NB we are in the process of applying for CIO status but have not yet been registered). To help

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Closed – Review of consents for major energy infrastructure projects and Special Protection Areas, 2022

Consultation close 11:45 pm, 31 January 2023 The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is carrying out a 4 week consultation seeking views on a draft report ‘Review of Consents for Major Infrastructure Projects and Special Protection Areas’. The review is required as a result of new or updated Special Protection Area designations.

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3 New Offshore Wind Energy Schemes in the Irish Sea Announced

The Crown Estate has announced that Offshore Wind Leasing Round 4 Agreements for Lease signing concluded in January 2023. Three of the six leases agreed are in the Irish Sea (the others being in the North Sea). The combined capacity of the 6 is around 8 GW being produced by the end of the decade.

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2022 Bathing Water Results

Defra has announced the 2022 bathing water results. The results summarise the compliance of coastal and inland designated bathing waters for England in 2022.  In summary 97.1% met at least the minimum Bathing Water standard, and 72.1% met the ‘excellent’ standard, however 2.9% did not meet the minimum standard for bathing and are classed as

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Closed – Booking now open for Climate Change on the North West Coast conference 29 & 30th March 2023

We are pleased to announce that booking is now open.   The North West Coastal Forum is working with the North West and North Wales Coastal Group and Our Future Coast to deliver a conference on climate change exploring the challenges facing the North West’s coastal communities and working with nature to adapt to coastal

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Closed – consultation on pilot sites for Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs)

Closes 28th September 2022 Defra has launched a consultation on proposals to designate pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs), including a candidate site of Allonby Bay, Cumbria.  In 2019 the UK Government commissioned an independent review, the Benyon Review, to explore the concept of HPMAs. The Review concluded that they are an essential component of

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Coastal Access Update – Late Spring 2022

Natural England have produced their latest update on progress on the England Coast Path in the North West. Currently 132km of the path are open in the North West, with a further 117 km from Cleveleys to Pier Head in Liverpool approved in full but not yet open and the remaining 322 km approved in

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Survey: Salt Marshes in North West England

This survey is part of a research project being carried out by the University of Liverpool. The researchers are carrying out this research to gain a better understanding of people’s attitudes towards salt marshes in North West England. The research will feed into the Ecological Coastal Buffer Strips (Eco-CoBS) project on coastal resilience, being led

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What’s Happening on the North West Coast 2022 Pilot Report

The aims of the ‘What’s Happening on the North West Coast’ pilot report are to: provide a comprehensive overview of strategic actions and policies at sub-regional or regional scale of significance for the North West coast, and which contribute to creating a more sustainable future for our coast help organisations working on the coast to

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