Marine licences: changes to fees, exemptions and self-service licences

The UK Government’s vision is to have clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas.  To help achieve this vision, the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCAA) introduced the current marine licensing system, which came into effect in April 2011. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) was created by MCAA and has responsibility for marine licensing in the English inshore and offshore region and the Northern Ireland offshore region.

Marine licensing covers a diverse range of activities from sea wall repairs through to large scale infrastructure developments[1]. Marine licensing aims to facilitate the sustainable use of the marine environment, so that activities can be permitted whilst minimising any environmental impacts and preventing interference with other legitimate uses of the sea, such as risks to navigation.

As the marine space becomes busier, we recognise it may become more difficult for regulators to make decisions that achieve sustainable development whilst balancing legitimate uses of the sea. It is important that we ensure that the marine licensing system is efficient and supports wider delivery of government policies, whilst maintaining its commitments to environmental protection and sustainable development.

As part of streamlining and improving the efficiency of marine licensing, we wish to gather views through this consultation on proposed amendments to marine licensing cost recovery, exemptions and ‘self-service’ licences. 

We propose to:

• add 5 new exemptions for activities which we believe are unlikely to conflict with sustainable development
• amend 4 existing exemptions to widen their scope to increase clarity or include the use of techniques and technologies capable of further reducing environmental impact
• remove existing exemptions for activities where their continued exemption is likely to negatively impact the environment such as disapplying existing exemptions in the context of activities occurring in or near Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) to prevent activities that could risk affecting the conservation objectives of these sites
• add 2 new self-service activities to improve consenting timeframes for low impact activities
• improve the MMO’s ability to recover costs incurred from marine licensing services to reduce reliance on Grant-in-Aid (GiA) funding and further align with government policy to set fee charges to fully recover costs[2]

This will allow the MMO to better fulfil its duties and ensure the licensing system is streamlined, cost-effective and proportionate, and that efforts are directed to more complex cases and more significant opportunities for environmental gains.

This consultation is directed at anyone interested in the way marine activities are regulated in the English inshore and offshore and the Northern Ireland offshore region, especially anyone who has applied or may apply for a marine licence including:

• businesses and operators that carry out these activities (including exempted activities) in these marine areas
• coastal Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) and Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities who have a role in regulating or commenting on project proposals
• conservation bodies and other groups that are concerned about the effects of activities on the marine environment, navigational matters and human health
• organisations that may be involved with novel uses of the marine environment

Many other people and groups are also concerned about activities in the seas around us and may therefore have an interest in these proposals.