SPS Website refresh

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The SPS website has been overdue for an update and this month we’re launching a new, simplified look, bringing the development back in house. We have taken the decision to reduce our website management costs while at the same time we hope to make the site more responsive to topics of interest to our members.

Here are a few of the features of the new site.

Context sensitive Sidebar menus which appear on the right hand side of the page if you’re looking on a larger screen, or immediately below the page text if you’re using a mobile device. In fact, it’s worth noting that this new incarnation of the site should react ‘responsively’ to the type of device you’re using.

The Recent Posts sidebar menu displays up to eight recent items, doubling the number previously visible.

At the foot of the home page, a Category Cloud menu gives an indication of the categories of content contained on the site. Take a look, and select an item to see the relevant content.

On the right hand side of the page footer, a Tag list menu shows a list of ‘tags’ with which certain items of content are indexed. Select a tag to view relevant content.

Solent Live – All the links to live information relating to harbour movements, shipping, weather and tides can be found at the ‘Solent Live’ option under the ‘The Solent’ menu.

News and Comment – Under ‘Solent Wide News’ you’ll find summaries of items of news from around the region. For a more focused selection, take one of the options under ‘Regional news’.

Our focus areas – Also under ‘News and Comment’, you’ll find a subset of areas which are of particular interest to SPS. Here you will find, for example, specific notes and documents relating to ‘Planning’ matters, Conservation and ‘Marine licenses’.

Coastal Squeeze and Rollback

10 Jan 201915 Jan 2019 ~ SPS Admin

It is generally accepted that sea-levels are rising in Britain, although there are many opinions about the causes and the rates. Most scientists believe that the rate of sea-level rise has already accelerated and will continue to do so until levels of atmospheric carbon-dioxide start to be reduced.

Regardless of the cause or rate of sea-level rise the effects are the same, in a natural system land is “lost” and becomes sea. With a high coastline this manifests itself as erosion of the cliffs, but with a gently rising coastline the result is a slow movement of the shoreline inland – so over time a particular piece of land will change from dry land to shoreline shingle or mud, then foreshore and eventually to sea. The rate of change will depend on sea-level rise, but also on how “dynamic” the environment – how exposed it is to tide and waves.

In the case of a defended coastline if defences are maintained and increased to take into account the sea-level rise (Hold the Line in SMP’s etc) this results in the seaward side of the defence continuing to develop naturally – ie change from foreshore to sea, but the landward side remains the same. The result, known as “Coastal Squeeze” is that the foreshore (Sand, shingle or salt-marsh) is slowly lost together with the natural transition zone from land to sea.

The habitats of these ephemeral transition zones are both rare and important and as a result many are designated under international, European and National designations which require them to be protected.

We are very fortunate locally as the New Forest Coastline contains some of few areas where there is natural gently rising coastline. This is rare, particularly in Southern England, where most of coastline is heavily managed and defended to provide flood and erosion protection. These areas show a natural graduation from farmland, often to a narrow strip of woodland, then to a foreshore, often with the remains of fallen trees, to foreshore and salt-marsh.

The narrow strip of woodland provides a unique habitat, and the tree-roots will slow, and control the rate erosion. The fallen trees also provide a unique habitat and make the shoreline interesting and very different from most other places.

Within the Solent Protection Society we believe that these unique habitats should be maintained, by natural processes, and that they cannot be maintained by traditional engineering works. The most effective way to maintain the habitat is to allow natural roll-back. This should be done by allowing natural regeneration of indigenous vegetation, particularly woodland, along a margin between farmland and the coastal strip.

We would welcome members opinion of how these habitats should be managed and whether this should be funded by public authorities, or whether the landowner should be expected to manage appropriately.

Marine Licensing Applications – 31st December 2018

2 Jan 20198 Jan 2019 ~ SPS Admin

The December 31st SPS summary of Marine Licensing activity applicable to the Solent area can be found by taking this link.

The update post displays a list of applications published by the Marine Management Organisation since the last SPS summary update issued, and project background for those applications open for public consultation.

Applications for burial of human remains at sea are not included.

If an application is of particular interest to you, take a note of the application number and enter it into the MMO Public Register to view the detail on the register. For guidance on how to access and search the MMO Public Register, please follow this link.

SPS Monthly Speakers

18 Dec 201816 Jan 2019 ~ SPS Admin

Following each monthly Solent Protection Society Council meeting and starting at 12:00 noon, there will usually be a talk given to the Council on a topic which may prove to be of general interest to our members.

The upcoming speakers are:

Tuesday 5th February, Colin Scott from ABP Mer will be presenting on the subject of Habitat Creation and Restoration in the Solent

Tuesday 5th March, Duncan Savage RYA Planning and Environmental Officer will present on a topic to be advised.

Tuesday 2nd April, Peter Barfield will present an update on his PhD research on Invasive Species.

If members would like to join us, please confirm your attendance by email to the Society secretary by clicking this link.

If you’re not currently a member but would like to join us at the talk, please take this link.

The location for each of these talks will be the Holiday Inn, Herbert Walker Avenue, Southampton. Please click on the map below for directions.

Solent Protection Society submits evidence to the Landscape Review

13 Dec 201814 Dec 2018 ~ SPS Admin

In November 2018 the Government called for evidence to be submitted to the independent review of England’s National Parks (NPs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs). This is a brief summary of some of the key points SPS has made. The full submission can be found on the SPS website by selecting this link.

The Solent Protection Society is primarily concerned with the shoreline and the view from the sea as it affects the National Parks, AONBs and the tidal river estuaries that make up the Solent from the Needles to Selsey Bill. We are concerned with the economic, social, leisure and environmental well-being of the Solent not just its appearance. Many of these aspects are interdependent and sometimes in conflict. The New Forest National Park and the AONBs on the north shore of the Isle of Wight and in Chichester Harbour play a crucial role in safeguarding this special place and seascape.

The AONBs, however, hold less clout in the planning system than the National Park and in our view need strengthening to offset the pressure from development, particularly housing targets. The view from the sea is often not appreciated as much as it should be, particularly when this may be the only view that is easily gained of a densely wooded AONB, such as the north east shore of the Isle of Wight .

We have a concern that incremental enlargement of small scale houses and chalets or new builds which individually my not be great but cumulatively start to change the landscape is not sufficiently appreciated or controlled by local planning authorities. The effect on the AONB should have a greater priority in considering such applications.

In addition we would like to see the introduction of smaller area AONBs associated with river valleys when viewed from the river or the opposite bank before such areas of important natural landscape are lost such as on the Hamble or the western shore of Southampton Water.

Finally Marine Plans in particular deliberately overlap land based plans and have a number of policies that have to be taken into account when considering changes to the landscape. The difficulty with Marine Plans is deciding what weight to give to each policy in a particular circumstance. SPS considers that where NPs and AONBs are concerned the protection of the landscape and seascape should be of a higher weighting and this needs to be endorsed by land based planning authorities and the Marine Management Organization.

Marine Licensing Applications – 3rd December 2018

3 Dec 2018 ~ SPS Admin

The December 3rd SPS summary of Marine Licensing activity applicable to the Solent area can be found by taking this link.

Applications for burial of human remains at sea are not included.

Marine Licensing Applications – 30th October 2018

30 Oct 20183 Dec 2018 ~ SPS Admin

The October 30th SPS summary of Marine Licensing activity applicable to the Solent area can be found by taking this link.

Applications for burial of human remains at sea are not included.

Marine Licensing Applications – 23rd September 2018

23 Oct 20183 Dec 2018 ~ SPS Admin

The September 23rd SPS summary of Marine Licensing activity applicable to the Solent area can be found taking this link.

Applications for burial of human remains at sea are not included.

Solent Habitat – Spartina Saltmarsh

4 Oct 20183 Nov 2018 ~ SPS Admin

Cordgrasses, known scientifically as Spartina Anglica, occupy the lower shore areas of the coast at depths which are regularly covered at high tide. They offer coastal protection and create intertidal land; by trapping sediments they also increase the elevation of these land areas and stabilise sediment, thus aiding in the creation of new saltmarsh areas. Spartina has high productivity and its growth and decay flux large amounts of energy and organic matter through the estuarine ecosystem. It lies at the base of the Solent saltmarsh food web and is a possible food source for many organisms. It creates a characteristic habitat which offers shelter and sustenance to a wide range of shallow water and intertidal animals and plants.

Yar estuary - 1948 — The River Yar estuary, Isle of Wight in 1948. Note the lack of Spartina saltmarsh

Yar estuary - 2017 — The River Yar estuary, Isle of Wight 2017. Note the extensive additions of saltmarsh

The first appearance of Spartina occurred as a hybridisation in Southampton Water sometime prior to 1870 and it spread rapidly by seed to Lymington and the Isle of Wight by the end of the 19^th century. However, from the mid 20^th century, there has been an almost equally dramatic loss. This erosion generally takes two forms; the erosion of the seaward edge of the marsh as material is washed away and secondly internal destruction of marsh areas by the widening of channel margins.

What sort of future habitat do we want and can we influence future events? If the Solent loses its Spartina saltmarshes, it seems that these areas will not return to the original open mud habitats of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but the Solent coastline presently protected by saltmarsh will suffer extensive and quite rapid erosion. It is worth considering why the mud flats will not reform. Part of this reason may be that fine sediment is no longer flowing into the Solent in the quantity it once did. It is also possible that dredging, as well as the wash created by boats and shipping wave action may have decreased the tendency for fine silts to settle in the Solent.

As humans, we have an extraordinary ability to alter the natural world and frequently do so in adverse ways. However, when confronted with major ecological events such as Dutch Elm disease and Spartina die-back, it is notable how passive and fatalistic we have all become. This need not be the case and using our science and engineering skills, we can reverse ecological change. There has been considerable debate about the reason for the die-back, one of which is the development of areas of algae created when nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are increased by human effluents. Spartina changes the habitat and in part is self-destructive by reducing sediment permeability. This leads to the conclusion that like almost all organisms, it needs constant new habitat– but without the fine sediments for it to colonise, the question must be asked of those who take actions to stop the flow of sediment down our rivers. Also to those who dredge and remove the sediment thus impacting on mudflat availability. The amount of oil residues found in Solent sediment is considerable and needs to be greatly reduced.

The South Marine Plan in a wider context

29 Sep 20183 Dec 2018 ~ SPS Admin

David Attenborough recently brought the issue of the sustainability of marine resources to all our attention. A Marine Plan is a framework document and a tangible step towards sustainable seas.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA Over many years there have been increasing and multiple pressures in coastal waters from dredging, windfarms, communications cables, pipelines, bottom trawling, shipping, leisure activities and many other activities. Much of this activity was insufficiently regulated and often uncharted, with a lack of formal channels of communication between either authorities or perpetrators, and with little thought to sustainability. The associated infrastructure can blight our coastline if cooperation in good planning is lacking. The Solent in particular is under pressure from increased development, both marine and terrestrial.

Concern as to the sustainable use of natural resources worldwide, the decline of biodiversity, food security and climate change led to the ground breaking UN “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 where the Convention on Biological Diversity (also known as the Biodiversity Convention or CBD) was adopted. It entered into force in December 1993. The Biodiversity Convention, to which the UK was a Party, was the first global treaty to provide a legal framework for biodiversity and conservation. Part of this Convention laid the foundation for a worldwide process of Marine Planning to promote sustainable use of marine resources and to halt the decline in biodiversity. The UK commitment to the Biodiversity Convention marine initiative is embodied in the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009), Parts 1, 2 and 3 of which covers Marine Planning. The UK coastline was divided into tranches and an inshore and offshore Marine Plan was created in each tranche. The South Inshore Marine Plan, which covers the Solent area, became law on 17th July 2018.

Marine Plans are not development documents such as terrestrial Local Plans. They are policy documents. In respect of the South Marine Plan, stakeholders were invited to consultations and workshops to discuss the desired strength of each policy so that a sensible, effective and acceptable level of governance and management could be achieved. Comment on the policies and their local effects, as well as The Solent Protection Society’s role in the consultation process, is covered by another article in this newsletter. Geographically, the South Marine Plan area stretches for 1000 kilometres of coastline from Folkestone to the River Dart. It is one of the most complex and used areas of the English coastline. As elsewhere, there are separate offshore and inshore sections.

To understand the concept of the Marine Plan more clearly, it is worth examining the legislative steps from the “Rio” Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) to where we are today. There are many daughter conventions to the UN “Rio” Convention on Biodiversity (1992) and the more significant conventions relevant to Marine Planning include the OSPAR Convention (1998) which is the UN Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic under which authority the UK marine area falls, and also the more familiar UNCLOS (1982), the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Nineteen years after the “Rio” Convention, the UK Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) created a new Agency within Defra called the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

The MMO operates as the competent marine planning authority on behalf of UK Government, delivering marine functions in English territorial waters. The MMO has overall responsibility for Marine Planning, Licensing, Environment, Marine Conservation Zones and Marine Protected Areas, Fisheries (offshore and inshore), and enforcement. It carries out these duties with advice from other appropriate government agencies, mainly within Defra, such as the Environment Agency or Natural England, depending on the relevant issue.

Confusion may arise between the United Nations initiative (UN OSPAR Convention etc.) behind Marine Planning, and European Directives (where transposed into UK law) which are used to enforce the actions of the MMO, for instance the use of the Habitats Directive (UK Habsregs 2010) to enforce Marine Conservation Zones.

Further confusion may have arisen in July 2018 when the South Marine Plan became law just as Defra was consulting on the designation of Marine Conservation Zones, two of which are in the Solent area, the subject of another article in the Newsletter. To explain the relationship between the two issues, we have to return to the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) where, as already mentioned, Parts 1,2 and 3 deal with the creation of the MMO and Marine Planning, while Part 5 covers Nature Conservation. This Part 5 gives the ultimate responsibility for the enforcement of the Marine Conservation Zones to the MMO, although the advisory agency for the science behind MCZs lies elsewhere in Defra, namely Natural England. The MMO also has the mandate to create local regulations where habitats may be suffering damage, and when considered necessary.

The Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) also gives responsibility to the MMO for all Marine Licensing between High Water and the extent of UK waters. There was a need to clarify and simplify marine licensing and the MMO has responsibility to speed up decisions and to introduce transparency into the system by publishing all marine licensing requests. Marine licensing applications can be found on the MMO website. The overlap with Local Authorities between HW and LW was a deliberate ploy to require Local Authorities and the MMO to cooperate in the tidal zone. Under the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) the MMO also holds ultimate responsibility for fisheries management and enforcement. Inshore Fishing Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) have been created to manage and enforce fisheries. At sea, IFCA vessels may assist other patrol boats with for enforcement on different issues, including the contravention of regulations regarding MCZs.

Part 9 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act concerns Coastal Access and the Coastal Path.
The South Marine Plan is the second Marine Plan to be created in English waters (the Eastern Marine Plan was the first), and its birth seems to have been long and complex. The initiative brings together the plethora of authorities and stakeholders for whom MMO has a duty to provide a “one stop shop” to coordinate the many authorities and demands on our waters.

There may be teething problems but the future of this initiative is encouraging.