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:

	Scotland river basin management plan	Solway Tweed river basin management plan
Non technical summary	Summary of the Scotland Plan  (4.6mb)	Overview of the Solway Tweed  (3.6mb)
State of the water environment	Chapter 1 (2.9mb) Appendices  (6.1mb)	Chapter 1 (1.4mb) Appendices  (691kb)
Environmental objectives	Chapter 2 (5.8mb) Appendices (696kb)	Chapter 2  (3.6mb) Appendices A and B  (489kb) EA Appendix C  (1.2mb)
Achieving the environmental objectives	Chapter 3  (2.4mb) Appendix  (93kb)	Chapter 3  (2.7mb) Appendix  (445kb)
Heavily modified and artificial water bodies	Chapter 4  (4.7mb) Appendix  (90kb)	Chapter 4  (2.4mb)
Protected areas	Chapter 5 (4.3mb) Appendices  (167kb)	Chapter 5 (2.7mb) Appendices  (420kb)
Competent authorities	Annex 1  (596kb)	Annex 1  (1.1mb)
Consultation and engagement	Annex 2  (191kb)	Annex 2  (452kb)
Cost Recovery	Annex 3  (112kb)	Annex 3  (431kb)
Water body sheets	Water body sheets Solway Tweed English measures  (576kb)
Interactive map application	Interactive map application Interactive map application – Help page

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:

	Scotland river basin management plan	Solway Tweed river basin management plan
Strategic Environmental Assessment	Scotland river basin district Strategic Environmental Assessment  (563kb)	Solway Tweed river basin district Strategic Environmental Assessment  (827kb)

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.

	Scotland river basin management plan	Solway Tweed river basin management plan
Habitats Directive Regulations	Scotland river basin district Appropriate Assessment  (470kb)	Solway Tweed river basin district Appropriate Assessment  (784kb) Solway Tweed river basin district Habitats Regulation Appraisal  (1.6mb)

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.