Llanbrynmair and Carnedd Wen wind farm applications redetermination: First round representations, published September 2016.

Second round representations, published September 2018.

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are special sites designated under the EU Birds Directive to protect rare, vulnerable and migratory birds.

The original boundary proposal map missed out some areas in Portsmouth Harbour and all of Pagham Harbour. There was a mapping error in the River Avon where the boundary was not drawn to the mean high water as stated in the departmental brief. The map has been corrected and replaced.

Some stakeholders were also not made aware of the original consultation so there’s an extended opportunity for comments. All previous responses have been recorded and will be included and submitted to the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The consultation summary document and departmental brief have been replaced.

The proposal for Solent and Dorset Coast is to create a new SPA for internationally important populations of:

• common tern
• Sandwich tern
• little tern

This area is particularly important to these birds as much of the sea around their breeding colonies is the ideal habitat for plunge diving for food.

The proposal is available as a series of separate documents (attached above). You should:

• read the consultation summary that sets out the aims of the proposal
• read the departmental brief that provides the scientific explanation behind the proposal
• use the map to locate the proposal site (this is a large file and may take some time to open)

You can obtain site boundaries as vector polygons in both ESRI ArcMap shapefile and Pitney Bowes MapInfo tab file formats from Natural England’s GIS Digital Boundary Datasets.

Use the ‘respond online’ link below to give your views.

Requirement R095

Requirement detail

The MMO requires a character description of the north east, south east, south west and north west marine plan areas to support marine planning. Evidence is required to characterise both the inshore and offshore areas.

This work will be split into the following parts:

1. characterisation of the above marine plan areas via desk study
2. stakeholder validation of the findings
3. visual amenity analysis to show where the sea is visible from the land
4. field work, which is not a priority to deliver as part of this requirement, but could potentially add value to the findings.

MMO use

Marine Planning: will use the characterisation work (stakeholder validation if available) to help inform marine plan development, particularly in relation to identifying seascape related issues and developing plan policies for seascape.

Marine Licensing: will use the visual amenity analysis to help determine the impacts of developments at sea from the land and vice versa, which will inform licensing decisions where relevant.

External interest:

Natural England, Environment Agency, Cefas

On 19 May 2016 Dover Harbour Board (DHB) submitted an application to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for a marine licence to carry out aggregate dredging at Area 521, known as the South Goodwin Sands.

The original application proposed the dredging of a maximum total of 3,750,000 tonnes of aggregate within the South Goodwin Sands sandbank system using trailer suction hopper dredgers to provide material for land reclamation works and berth construction works as part of the wider Dover Western Docks Revival project.

A public consultation was started on 9 June 2016 and ended on 20 July 2016.

The MMO requested further information from DHB to assess the impacts of the proposed dredging. A further public consultation on this additional information started on 6 October 2016 and ended on 16 November 2016.

On 20 December 2016 the MMO requested additional information from Dover Harbour Board to assess the impacts of the proposed dredging. A further consultation on this additional information started on 17 August 2017 and ended on 28 September 2017.

The application for a marine licence was updated in Autumn 2017 to:

• reduce the volume of material required;
• reduce the proposed dredge area; and
• alter the timeline of the indicative dredging programme.

Between Autumn 2017 and July 2018 the MMO has been taking necessary steps to ensure that the process to assess the proposed development was in compliance with the Marine Works (EIA) Regulations 2007 (as amended) and Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, amongst other relevant legislation. This included taking into account relevant representations made as part of the consultation process and obtaining guidance from our primary advisers.

On 26 July 2018 the MMO announced it had granted a marine licence giving DHB permission to extract up to 3 million tonnes of aggregate by trailer suction hopper dredging, which is proposed to be undertaken between September 2019 and September 2020.

In reaching its decision the MMO has considered Section 69 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, in particular the need to protect the environment, the need to prevent interference with legitimate uses of the sea and other such relevant matters. The MMO has taken into account the evidence provided; the comprehensive consultations; and the clear conclusions of the EIA Consent Decision on individual issues, which includes consideration of the nature of the proposed activity (the campaign of dredging) and the likely significant effects both individually and cumulatively in reaching its marine licence decision.

The EIA Consent Decision document included on this page explains the steps taken by the MMO in reaching its EIA Decision and subsequent Marine Licence determination, and the evidence on which its conclusions were based.

All relevant documentation, including the updated marine licence application, further information requests and responses and representations received following the first and second consultation period, is available from the MMO marine licensing public register (case reference is MLA/2016/00227).

For more information contact the Marine Licensing Team. Phone: 0300 123 1032 or email: marine.consents@marinemanagement.org.uk.