River basin planning
The first river basin management plans for
Scotland have been approved, adopted and published.
Most of Scotland is within the Scotland river
basin district, which is covered by the Scotland river basin
management plan (“the Scotland RBMP”). Following its approval by
the Scottish Ministers, SEPA adopted and published the Scotland
RBMP on 22 December 2009.
In the south of Scotland, the major river
catchments cross the border with England and are included in the
Solway Tweed river basin district, which is covered by the Solway
Tweed river basin management plan (“the Solway Tweed RBMP”). The
Solway Tweed RBMP was adopted and published jointly by SEPA and the
Environment Agency on 22 December 2009 too, following its approval
by the Scottish Ministers and the Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Both plans and supporting documents, along
with the environmental reports and statements produced in
connection with strategic environmental
assessment, are available for inspection free of charge at:
SEPA Corporate Office,
Erskine Court,
The Castle Business Park,
Stirling,
FK9 4TR.
You can view the documents between 09:00 and
17:00 Monday to Friday or by phoning 01786 457700. The Solway Tweed
plan will also be available at SEPA’s Dumfries office; click
here for contact details.
The development of river basin management
planning represents a huge step forward in the way in which we
safeguard and improve the quality of our water environment across
Scotland and the Solway Tweed river basin districts.
These river basin management plans (RBMPs) ensure that public
sector bodies, businesses and individuals work together to protect
the water environment and address significant impacts by
co-ordinating all aspects of water management for the next 6 years.
The plans have been produced as one of the requirements of the
European Union's Water Framework Directive and similar plans are
being put in place across Europe. The plans will be reviewed and
updated in 2015.
The plans are available here:
Any questions or queries on the process can be sent to rbmp@sepa.org.uk
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
A Strategic Environmental Assessment to examine the significant
environmental effects of implementing the RBMPs has been
undertaken. The SEA was consulted upon in an “Environmental Report”
that was published alongside the draft RBMPs in December
2008. This is available here. The SEA statement which sets out
how the Environmental Report and any views expressed during the
consultation have been taken into account is available below:
Habitats Regulations Appraisal and Appropriate Assessment
Areas in Scotland protected by law for their European nature
conservation importance, known as Special Areas of Conservation
(SAC) and Special Protection Areas (SPA), must be given special
consideration by organisations making plans that are likely to have
a significant effect on these sites. A statutory appraisal under
the Habitats Regulations 1994 was undertaken for each RBMP. While
the majority of measures being promoted by the RBMPs are likely to
be overwhelmingly positive in their effects on SACs or SPAs, SEPA
concluded that some measures in both Plans were likely to have a
significant effect on such protected areas. SEPA, therefore, in
consultation with Scottish Natural Heritage, undertook a more
detailed assessment, known as an appropriate assessment, for each
plan.
These appropriate assessments identified any measures in the
plans that could have an adverse effect on the integrity of SACs or
SPAs, and proposed mitigation of any adverse effects. This allowed
SEPA to conclude that neither RBMP would have an adverse effect on
the integrity of any SAC or SPA. For the Solway Tweed RBMP, a
matching Habitats Regulations Appraisal was undertaken by the
Environment Agency for the English area of the RBMP, which came to
a similar conclusion to that for the Scottish part of the plan.
Details of the draft plans, a summary of consultation responses
and the changes made to the final plans, and other work SEPA has
carried out to develop the plans, are available
here.