Selection of maintenance operations/activities and plans/projects in recreational harbours

Maintenance of structures and replacement of like for like

Improvement, enlargement or extension of structures

New plans and projects

There has been much concern about the impact of SAC designation on current activities and operations in harbours and marinas, particularly on essential maintenance activities. Many maintenance activities are essential to preserve human safety. As such they have priority over all other considerations. However, ports should observe a general duty to have regard to the environment and seek to minimise impacts. In the Solent, meetings have been held between English Nature and the Solent Harbour Masters and BMIF representatives to address these concerns and find a way forward. The agreements reached in those meetings form the basis of the following discussion on the process for looking at harbour activities in marine SACs.

In marine SACs there is a general presumption that present use will continue, unless there is evidence that it is causing deterioration or disturbance to designated marine features. This will be achieved by agreement through the management scheme process. However, changes (projects and plans) in marine SACs and SPAs are subject to ordinary planning and consent processes, including a requirement to assess significance for all projects and plans proposed in or near European marine sites and the need to carry out an appropriate assessment, where necessary. There is a requirement to determine whether proposed changes will have significant effects on the SAC.

Typical operations and activities undertaken in recreational harbours are listed in Box 18. As the navigation authorities, harbours have a statutory duty to undertake a number of these activities in the interests of safety, these include the first group of activities. Others activities are essential to the commercial operation of recreational harbours who must evolve with the ever changing needs of their customers, who are increasing in number. In the spirit of sustainable development a pragmatic and balanced approach is needed from all involved in the SAC management scheme.

Selection of maintenance operations/activities and plans/projects in recreational harbours

• Maintenance, replacement and installation of :
• navigation marks,
• piles,
• lights, and
• vessel traffic schemes.
• Maintenance, replacement and installation of moorings using chains, piles and pontoons.
• Maintenance, improvement/extension and construction of :
• slipways and
• jetties.
• Maintenance of seawalls, flood defences and wave screens.
• Removal of wrecks.

The range of harbour activities listed above can be divided into four main categories:

• maintenance of a structure in its present state,
• replacement of like for like,
• improvement of a structure, and
• new plans and projects.

The suggested management approach for dealing with these activities is discussed below.

Activities that are required to maintain harbour and marina structures or to replace structures like for like, such as the renewal of piles or replacement of moorings, will continue as always. Only in the unlikely case that there is evidence to show that these activities are causing deterioration or disturbance of designated marine features will the problem need special measures to be taken. Above all, where genuine safety issues are involved, environmental considerations must not be allowed to delay action.

Within SSSIs, country conservation agencies normally issue a notice of consent, upon application, under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act to cover ongoing operations. Such an approach can be used to cover maintenance activities in harbours and marinas whereby current activities can then go ahead without further approval. Agreement between harbours and country conservation agencies can be managed through the framework of a site management statement.

Where activities go beyond normal maintenance, such as a very large scale replacement programme that may require a pile driver or such to be brought on site, discussion should take place with the country conservation agency over matters such as the timing of operations to find mutually acceptable ‘windows of opportunity’ and appropriate working practices.

It is the small-scale maintenance activities that form the focus of these guidelines. Discussion of possible environmental effects that may result from these activities and suggestions for good working practice for minimising and coping with these effects is provided in the following section (Section 4.3). In many cases, these actions are already practised widely in UK harbours and marinas as part of every day management.

The improvement, enlargement or extension of existing harbour and marina structures are plans and projects under the Habitats Directive. Examples of these activities may include the extension of pilings and enlargement of slipways. In many cases works of this kind will be small in nature and result in small and acceptable changes. Due to their small-scale nature and the uncertainty which may exist on the extent of planning control below the low water mark, but within local authority boundaries, such works are often thought to fall into a grey area between operations/activities and plans/projects. However, under the Habitats Directive there is a requirement to determine whether all plans/projects proposed within or near European marine sites are likely to have a significant effect on the site and to address the combined affects of many small developments occurring in or near a site.

The issue of combined effects has been the cause of much confusion, concern and debate, even at Government and EU level. Clear direction on how to consider combined effects is needed. Although further guidance on this subject is not available at this time, combined effects are under consideration by an Intergovernmental Habitats Steering Group. The process for addressing combined effects of such small works on existing harbour structures should be developed and described in the SAC management scheme. A strategic approach to addressing this issue will probably provide the best solution. Until the issues involved are resolved, agreement between relevant authorities and a common sense approach offer the only practical way forward. The process of considering major plans and projects to enlarge or extend existing harbour structures is described below.

Harbour authorities have the power to undertake works or change to the use of land within their jurisdiction without need for planning consent, under General Development Orders (GDO). However, under the Transport and Works Act 1992 it was made a statutory duty to balance nature conservation with their other duties, such as dredging and development. New harbour and marina developments, such as the construction of jetties or slipways, already require a multiplicity of consent from competent authorities under various legislation, including Habitats Directive, that also requires that each development is considered on a case by case basis and in combination with other projects. Under the Habitat Regulations there is a requirement to review permitted development rights within European marine sites.

PPG 9 suggests that a developer, taking advice from the country conservation agencies should consider whether the effect of the development is likely to be significant in terms of the conservation objectives for which the site was designated, either individually or in combination with other proposals. A flow diagram outlining the process that must be followed for all plans and projects considered to have a likely significant effect on a site is shown in PPG 9. This process includes the completion of an appropriate assessment to determine whether the proposed development will adversely affect the integrity of the site. Problems have arisen in the past over the interpretation of the concept of "significance" and "adverse affects on site integrity" when a developer has sought to promote a plan/project in or near a European marine site. For coastal developers there is a need for clear guidance and criteria for the application of these concepts and some basis for evaluating the likelihood of success if investment and hence growth is not to be inhibited. This process can be facilitated by early, pre-application discussions between the developer and the local country conservation agency, and any consultations will be dealt within the existing country conservation agency charter standards.

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