Photo source: SASThe Marine Planning process has started. The first area opened up for Marine Planning is the East coast between Scarborough to Felixstowe. Currently every conceivable coastal stakeholder is making their claim to the sand.
The Marine Planning organisation who are leading the Marine Planning process have recognised recreational water users as stakeholders they need to include but don’t have the data for. The campaign group Surfers Against Sewage is working to ensure surfers, kite surfers, windsurfers get involved.
Ensuring local waves and surf spots are marked on the Marine Planning map might not immediately sound exciting or important. However when a developer decides to build a new marina they will need to consult these Marine Planning maps. It will open up stronger legislation to protect waves.
The increasing popularity of surfing is leading to significantly more pressure on water companies and the Environment Agency to ensure bathing water quality is improved. Currently the European Commission believes the UK is breaching the Urban Waste Water Directive by allowing CSO’s to discharge sewage too frequently. The outcome of the case being investigated by the European Court of Justice is expected shortly.
Campaign groups like Surfers against Sewage working with the water companies have started a sewage alert service to warm water users when CSO’s are .spilling. All this attention is ramping up the pressure and it’s a reasonable bet that the next periodic review will see increased expenditure on reducing CSO discharges.
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