Collection: South Marine Plans

The South Marine Plan is the second English marine plan to be adopted. It covers an area of around 20,000 square kilometres of inshore and offshore waters across 1,000 kilometres of coast line from Folkestone to the river Dart. It is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world, with significant numbers of freight and passenger transport as well as military activity with almost two thirds of Royal Navy ships stationed at Portsmouth. This intense activity and shipping takes place alongside 60 marine protected areas, including nine marine conservation zones and a UNESCO world heritage site. It is one of the most complex and used areas of the English coast line.

The South Marine Plan will help ensure that the right activities happen in the right place and in the right way within the marine environment. It provides a framework that will shape and inform decisions over how the areas’ waters are developed, protected and improved over the next 20 years.

Through its vision for economic, environmental and social prosperity, the South Marine Plan will safeguard environments such as the UNESCO-recognised Jurassic coast, enable sustainable use of its shipping channels, encourage growth in local sectors such as tourism, and protect and enhance essential natural defences against climate change and flooding. This will be achieved through its 12 objectives, the use of natural capital and supporting local policies, all of which have been developed in partnership with local and national organisations, representatives and users of the area.

The adoption of the South Marine Plan is a significant milestone. Marine planning provides an important way of implementing government’s marine policies at a local level, making ambitions tangible, relevant and achievable, improving the wellbeing of coastal communities and supporting a stronger, more sustainable marine economy.