GovWire

Overview

Your application will need to conform with all the relevant policies, considering economic, environmental, and social factors. You must supply enough information for us to make a decision about the possible environmental impact your activity or project may have.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO) provides marine licences under the Marine and Coastal Access act, but also have to have regard to various other legislation while they undertake their decision. Certain projects and certain areas will be required to provide further information depending on different legislation.

The Marine Works (EIA) Regulations 2007 require certain types of projects that have the potential to significantly affect the environment to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment before a marine licence decision is made.

Some specific parts of the marine area benefit from protection in law including Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), European protected sites, and protected species habitats.

Laws and regulations also exist to protect the environment from particular types of harm, and these measures include the?Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations 2017?and?Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011.

If applicable to your case, all of the above will require additional assessments to be undertaken, either by the applicant or the MMO. More information is provided below.

We recommend you contact us before you start your application so our team can advise on what you should include in your application.

You can contact us by submitting an enquiry from your account on our online licencing system. If you do not have an account, youll need to register first and then submit your enquiry. Submitting an enquiry may incur a charge. Find out about our fees.??

If you submit a marine licence application with incomplete information, we will not process it. In most cases well ask you to supply the missing information. In some circumstances well need to reject the application.

Marine Plan Policy Assessment

There are 11 marine plan areas in England. For each marine plan area there are policies in place to encourage sustainable development and balance the needs of the environment, economy, and society.

Youll need to complete a Marine Plan Policy Assessment as part of your application. This will be completed as a section on the marine case management system.

The document linked below provides more information about what you need to include in your application.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

If your project is likely to have a significant effect on the environment and is linked to one of the activities listed in Schedule A1 and Schedule A2 of Marine Works Regulations (MWR), an Environmental Impact Assessment?(EIA)?may need to be carried out before a marine licence can be granted. The aims of an?EIA?are to protect the environment and allow the public to play a part in making decisions.

Details of the different stages in the Environmental Impact Assessment?(EIA)?process are given below. We recommend you talk to us before starting an Environmental Impact Assessment?(EIA) application?to make sure your application provides enough information for us to be able to make a decision. Well also help guide you if there are any other regulators who may need to approve your application, for example, Natural England, or the local planning authority. You can contact us by submitting an enquiry from your account on ouronline licencing system. If you do not have an account, youll need toregisterfirst and then submit your enquiry. Submitting an enquiry may incur a charge. Find out about ourfees.

Activities that are likely to require an Environmental Impact Assessment

There are a number of activities that require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which are listed in Annex I of the EIA?Directive and Schedule A1 of Marine Works Regulations (MWR), including (but not limited to):

• nuclear power stations
• trading ports
• piers that can take vessels over 1,350 tonnes

Activities listed in Annex I Directive and Schedule A1 of Marine Works Regulations (MWR), must have an Environmental Impact Assessment undertaken during the marine licensing process. An Environmental Statement must be submitted with the marine licensing application to enable the MMO to complete the Environmental Impact Assessment and provide a consent decision.

Activities listed in Annex II of the?EIA?Directive?and Schedule A2 of Marine Works Regulations (MWR) require an?Environmental Impact Assessment?(EIA)?only if they are likely to have significant effects on the environment. Using the criteria outlined in Schedule 1 of Marine Works Regulations (MWR) for determining whether effects are significant, MMO believes that the following projects are significant:

• reclaiming land from the sea
• extracting minerals by dredging
• installations that produce electricity
• wind farms
• shipyards
• port and harbour installations not listed in Annex I / Schedule A1
• coastal work to combat erosion, for example, moles and jetties

To determine if the activities listed in Annex II of the?EIA?Directive?and Schedule A2 of Marine Works Regulations will have significant effect on the environment the activities must be screened by the MMO

Screening for an Environmental Impact Assessment

Screening is used to determine whether a project falls within the remit of The Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulation

View the original news story