West Highland

The West Highland advisory group area includes the catchments of the Western Isles, Skye and the small isles and the western seaboard of mainland Scotland from Cape Wrath to Ardnamurchan, plus the coastal and estuarine waters surrounding them.

The West Highland area advisory group comprises the representatives of the key stakeholders and responsible authorities for river basin management planning in the area. They hold regular meetings and have developed a supplementary plan for the implementation of the river basin management plan for the Scotland river basin district. 

This page has information on:

• the West Highland area management plan;
• West Highland area advisory group membership;
• area advisory group meetings and minutes;
• the West Highland Forum, including how to join.

The co-ordinator and first point of contact for the West Highland AAG is:

Name: Rachel Harding-Hill
Email: rachel.harding-hill@sepa.org.uk
Office: Dingwall
Tel: 01349 860347

The West Highland area management plan

The West Highland area management plan has been developed by the area advisory group. It has three parts: a summary document, an action table and catchment summaries. Information can be found about individual water bodies via our interactive map application.

Contents

Available as pdf (1.5mb ) or view online below

• Executive summary
• Gaelic executive summary
• Introduction to the West Highland area management plan
  • Purpose of the area management plan
  • The area that this plan covers
  • How to use this plan
• The water environment and achieving the environmental improvements
  • The current condition of the water environment
  • Pressures and risks
  • Objectives for the water environment
• Actions planned to achieve our objectives
  • Putting the plan into action

		Last updated
Action Plan Details of the work of the West Highland Area Advisory Group. Progress will be reviewed at full AAG meetings.	Action Plan	September 2010
Catchment summaries Guide to using catchment summaries ·          Western Isles ·          West Highland mainland ·          Coastal water bodies ·          Ground waters	Guide to using catchment summaries Western Isles catchment summaries West Highland mainland catchment summaries Coastal water bodies - summary Ground water bodies  - summary	Published September 2010
Water body information	Interactive map application or Water body information sheets	See interactive map page   December 2009

The Scotland river basin district plan includes a number of chapters that explain the different parts of the river basin planning process. It also sets the wider context for the West Highland area management plan, including the area’s classification, objectives and measures, which you might find useful.  

Membership

Membership of the West Highland AAG is determined by the range and type of pressures in the West Highland area. Members include representatives from:

• Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers
• British Waterways
• Coast Hebrides
• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
• Forestry Commission
• National Farmers' Union, Scotland
• Outer Hebrides Fisheries Trust
• RSPB
• Scottish Crofting Association
• Scottish Government Rural Inspections and Payments Division
• Scottish Natural Heritage
• Scottish Rural Property and Business Association
• Scottish Water
• Scottish Environment Protection Agency
• The Highland Council
• Ullapool Harbour Trust (2008-)
• Wester Ross District Salmon Fishery Board
• Western Isles Aquaculture Association (2006-2007)

Membership is flexible. It will be possible for additional members to be co-opted for agreed periods to assist with the preparation of particular aspects of river basin planning. Such members can be co-opted onto the AAG for single meetings, to cover specific agenda items or for a short period to advise on a particular issue. They will not be full members and therefore will not determine quorum or vote.

Meetings and minutes

The West Highland area advisory group meets regularly and provides a mechanism to support the production of a river basin management plan (RBMP) for the Scotland river basin district, and its co-ordination with other plans and programmes.

Previous meetings

Agenda, minutes, papers and presentations from the past four meetings of North Highland area advisory group will be available shortly.

West Highland area advisory group AAG Forum

Anyone with an interest in the water environment of West Highland can become a member of the West Highland advisory group forum.

• Get involved
  More information on joining an AAG forum.

Presentations and proceedings from previous AAG forum conferences are available from the river basin planning co-ordinator.

Events

Forestry and the Water Environment event held on 22 November 2010 at the Caledonian Stadium, Inverness.  The presentations are available here

Agenda – Forestry and Water event

Eddie Nicol – SEPA – CAR diffuse pollution

Eddie Nicol – SEPA – CAR Engineering

Iain Sime – SNH – Forestry and Natural Heritage

Julia Garritt – FCS – Policy context

Julian Fryer – FCS – Site Planning

Rachel Harding-Hill – SEPA – RBMP

Simon McKelvey – CFFT – Forestry and Fisheries

Further information

Significant water management issues (SWMI)  (1.85mb)
Published in 2007, the report provides a comprehensive assessment of the threats to Scotland’s water and identifies the actions and improvements that are necessary to protect the water environment.

SWMI in West Highland  (62k)
Summary table of SWMI affecting water bodies in West Highland .

Early basin planning work
Information on early river basin management planning work, such as environmental and economic characterisation and Plan of Action.

Monitoring and classification
Information on how monitoring and classification are linked to basin planning can be found on the monitoring and classification pages.

Use the links on the left to visit other area advisory group pages.