• Enjoying Our Coast
• Managing Our Coast
• Coastal Defence
• Coastal Partnerships
• Current Consultations
• EU Marine Policy
• ICZM
• Marine and Coastal Access Act
• Marine Consents
• Marine management organisation
• Marine pollution
• Marine Spatial Planning
• Plans and Strategies
• Protected Areas
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Our Biodiversity
• Our Changing Coast
• Our Coastal Zone
• Our Economy and Industries
• Our Heritage

Managing Our Coast

Like other coastal zones in the UK, the Solent has a highly complex system of planning and management due to the different regulatory systems across the land-sea divide and the wide range of authorities and agencies involved. There is a correspondingly large number of plans, strategies and other initiatives around the Solent, produced by a range of organisations for different purposes and covering different areas and timescales. Currently a range of new legislation is coming into effect that will affect the planning and management of the coastal and marine environment and as a result new plans and processes are being introduced. The most notable are:

• Marine Strategy Framework Directive
• Marine and Coastal Access Act, 2009.
• The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, has brought significant changes to the planning system including a new development plans framework of regional spatial strategies and local development frameworks;
• The Planning Act, 2008 that sets out a new system for approving major infrastructure of national importance, such as harbours and waste facilities, and replaces current regimes under several pieces of legislation. The objective is to streamline these decisions and avoid long public inquiries.
• The Water Framework Directive, bringing in a new system of river basin management plans;
• The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, which will apply to a range of plans;
• EU Recommendation on ICZM;
• Defra's ICZM Strategy;