Thank you, convener. I say good morning to the committee, and offer a special welcome to the new member, Sarah Boyack.
Thank you for the opportunity to give evidence on Scotland’s first national marine plan. As members are aware, marine planning is a new process, so I welcome the committee’s input to the scrutiny that is under way. Not only is it a new process, but I genuinely believe that marine planning is groundbreaking and has the potential to be world leading. We are, in effect, introducing a planning framework for our seas for the first time to help us to manage competing interests; many valuable sectors use our waters to support literally hundreds of thousands of Scottish livelihoods and our economy. Of course, we want to protect our natural environment and ensure that those sectors carry out their activities sustainably. We rely on our seas for food, energy and many other valuable resources, and marine planning is about protecting our seas and doing what is best for our economy at the same time.
The plan that is before Parliament represents the culmination of a long and involved process, starting with the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, and continuing with a pre-consultation draft plan in 2011 and extensive consultation on the draft plan in 2013. The process has been marked by intensive stakeholder involvement throughout, which has helped to shape the plan as it now stands. I am pleased with the evidence from stakeholders at this stage, which is supportive of the point that we have reached, and although some are obviously still looking for detailed amendments, I am open minded about that.
The plan has a number of purposes, but the key ones are to set out policies for sustainable development, as required by the 2010 act, and to provide a framework for regional planning and decision making. In doing that, the plan must recognise an appropriate balance between emerging and existing commercial activity, social and recreational use, and protection of the marine environment. It must also recognise the broad range of activities that are covered and the different states of maturity and the levels of the regulation that is already in place.
It is important to make the point that the plan does not seek to replace or to contradict existing legislation and regulation. Rather, it provides a framework for them to operate in. As was envisaged when the 2010 act was going through Parliament, the plan brings together a wide range of existing activity. Crucially, it allows for the interactions and interconnections between the different sectors to be recognised and for policies to be developed to manage them.
The plan was informed by a number of supporting assessments—sustainability appraisal and business and regulatory impact assessments, for instance. I also asked for an independent investigation into the plan to be carried out last summer, and the results of that have been taken fully on board and have strengthened the plan’s coverage of various issues, and in particular fishing, as Bertie Armstrong acknowledged when he was before the committee last week. The plan has been shaped primarily by consultation and by input from a wide range of stakeholders and members of the public. It is that consultation process that has identified key areas on which we can now focus, and the level of detail that is required in relation to the policies.
I reiterate that the plan must conform to the United Kingdom marine policy statement and that it will inform future regional marine planning and decision making. The range of decisions to which it can apply is wide and includes all decisions that are made by a public authority that would impact on the marine environment, from Crown Estate leasing to planning decisions by local authorities, so it is vital that we have that planning function in place in order to better manage human impact on the marine environment and to do so in a way that goes beyond the current silos.
As I have said before, the marine environment is central to the delivery of many benefits, goods and services for our society. The plan therefore simply sets out a framework for sustainable development of our seas that seeks to protect those goods and services. As a result of feedback, chapters 3 and 4 set out in detail how the plan will deliver sustainable development, in particular in application of the general policies across all development and use.
We are also using the geographic information systems portal—the national marine plan interactive—which is on the website. That now contains 450 layers of data that are relevant to marine planning, so it is a key element of the evidence base and represents the future of marine planning, in which the information and evidence base will be web based and fully accessible. Regional data can already be uploaded to that; it includes not just national data. Shetland and the Solway are among the regions that have already used the facility. More data are in the pipeline and will be added over time in line with local requirements around the country.
I could mention lots of other issues, but I hope that I have set in context how we got to where we are with the national marine plan and its aims and objectives. In effect, the plan establishes a single framework in relation to what is out there at the moment, be that European legislation or the domestic, United Kingdom or international context. I hope that that puts the plan in context for the committee.