2023 January National

Closed – Consultation on Introducing Highly Protected Marine Areas in Scotland

Consultation closes 20 March 2023 The Scottish Government is consulting on the introduction of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in Scottish waters. Through the Bute House Agreement the Scottish Government has to designate at least 10% of Scotland’s seas as HPMAs by 2026. The intention is that the HPMAs will provide high levels of protection for conservation

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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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Research report on marine debris pathways for non-native species into UK waters

Scientists from CEFAS – the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science – have published pioneering research modelling how non-native species can be transported across the ocean on floating marine debris. They used a novel modelling approach, adapting a computer model originally designed to predict the distribution of oil following an oil spill, to uncover

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Government to ban the supply of unnecessary single-use plastic items

In November 2021, Defra launched a consultation on proposals to ban the supply of single-use plastic plates, cutlery, and balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers. The consultation took place as part of the 25 Year Environment Plan ambition to  eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042. The responses have now been

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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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Marine Strategy Part Two: UK updated monitoring programmes

The Government has published the Marine Strategy Part Two: Updated Monitoring Progammes. The strategy sets out how the UK will move towards Good Environmental Status (GES) in our seas over the next 6 years and covers, as well as the updated monitoring programmes, the progress made since 2014 when the last monitoring programme was published.

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