Review of development in coastal and marine waters: Terms of reference

Work Programme

The objective is to reduce the complexity of the regime governing development in coastal and marine waters by:

• identifying essential principles to underpin the development regime and assessing how far these are currently met
• making proposals for simplifying and reducing the cost and burden of existing consent processes in the short term
• making recommendations for longer term reforms with the objective of delivering sustainable development through a modern, transparent, efficient and effective coastal and marine development system.

The Review will cover England and Wales initially focusing on, but not limited to, coastal waters. The Review aims to make it easier for business to operate in the sea, ensuring that the Government's objectives for the protection of the marine environment can be met and preventing unnecessary interference with other legitimate uses of the sea. Streamlining the existing development control regimes should be to the benefit of all stakeholders. It will take into account lessons learnt from the work of the Marine Consents and Environment Unit set up in April 2001 by DEFRA and DTLR, and also work within the context of the Marine Stewardship Report, of DEFRA's Review of Marine Nature Conservation and the Department for Transport's ongoing work on Modern Ports. It will examine current and future regulatory proposals to ensure consistency with the Government's Better Regulation objectives. The UK's responsibilities under EU and international law will be considered where relevant.

• The Review will examine the scope for:
• streamlining and reducing the number of regulations
• bringing together separate consent procedures and regimes
• making the regulatory system more accessible to both business and the public
• improved coordination and management of the regulatory regime including closer cooperation between regulators both in central government and within the wider regulatory community
• improving the availability of data on both existing and proposed consents and the potential to provide this from a single source.

Initial proposals are expected by the end of the year.

The Minister in charge of the Review is Lord Rooker, Minister for Housing, Planning and Regeneration in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). The Review is being undertaken by a special unit in the Department for Transport, working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government, DEFRA, DTI and ODPM, consulting with other Devolved Administrations as necessary and also with business, environmental bodies and regulators. Any proposals that emerge from the Review will be fully consulted on.