(EGCP) Business Plan

(EGCP) Business Plan

EAST GRAMPIAN COASTAL PARTNERSHIP LTD BUSINESS PLAN 2021 Collieston, Aberdeenshire 2021 East Grampian Coastal Partnership (EGCP) Business Plan Introduction and Context For over 15 years, the East Grampian Coastal Partnership has helped connect people to the coast. Our programme of work has encompassed research into the state of our coast, community engagement in appreciating its rugged beauty and magnificent wildlife, publicising proposals to develop coastal resources sustainably and even the practical organisation of cleaning up marine litter that spoils the environment. We are one of six Partnerships in Scotland delivering an integrated approach to coastal management. Increasingly, our work will address the links between coastal waters, onshore and offshore marine activities. We are now entering a period of transition as the focus on coastal management expands to consider marine planning. The Scottish Government has created a National Marine Plan, which enables decisions about developments in our waters to be taken within an overarching framework that considers all marine activities. At the same time, it acknowledges the frameworks governing the way we use land and marine resources. The first Scottish National Marine Plan was published in 2015 and will, eventually, be complemented by a framework of 11 Regional Marine Plans covering the coastline around Scotland and the seas out to twelve (12) nautical miles. Each is to be prepared by a new Regional Marine Planning Partnership. The first Marine Planning Partnerships were created for the Firth of Clyde and the Shetland Islands. There is an expectation that a Marine Planning Partnership for the North East Marine Region will be established in due course. EGCP has started some of the preliminary work that might support Regional Marine Planning and has already been incorporated as a data layer within the Scottish Government’s inter-active digital atlas of marine information NMPi. Whilst preparing for the longer-term goal, it is eQually important that we deliver local projects along our coastline. In its first decade, the East Grampian Coastal Partnership helped to bring seaside awards to local beaches, improved 1 | Page the knowledge of coastal tourism potential and facilitated many organisations to work successfully together. We are now two years into the Turning the Plastic Tide project. Since its launch in August 2018, this project has removed over 25 tonnes of rubbish from local beaches, engaged 2500 volunteers at beach cleans and 2200 children through school workshops. It has received local and national funding and has been a major success in engaging individuals, communities, schools and business to help improve our coastline. Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly impacted upon our 2020 beach cleaning activities, we would hope to be back in ‘beach clean mode’ by mid-2021. EGCP have also launched a further phase of our Discover Maps project which aims to produce four digital maps extending from Fraserburgh to St Cyrus - each of which focuses on our Coastal heritage, and contain historical, natural and cultural highlights of our coast, reveal places of interest and include two interactive coastal walks. The first of these four maps, covering the Aberdeen City coast, will be issued in the first Quarter of 2021. The remaining three coastal maps for Buchan, Formartine and Mearns will be completed during 2021. Much has been achieved in 2020, but there is more to be done to safeguard and develop the uniQue features of our coast. Our proposals for the next two years are set out in this Business Plan. We look forward to working with you to continue the work of EGCP Ltd. as we move into 2021 and beyond. Please keep safe in these difficult times. David R. Green, Chairman, East Grampian Coastal Partnership Ltd. 2 | Page 1. Setting the Scene – an evolving strategic context 1.1 Marine planning, as set out in the Marine (Scotland) 2010 Act, is a system to guide, regulate and address activities in the marine environment. It will need to inter-relate with the terrestrial system, and vice versa. 1.2 The Marine (Scotland) Act is the primary legislation for Scotland’s Territorial Seas but the waters beyond 12 nautical miles are subject to the UK Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009. However, an agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments has allowed Scottish Ministers to plan for all the waters around Scotland, out to 200 nautical miles, under the 2015 Scottish National Marine Plan. Marine planning is also being carried out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 1.3 The Marine (Scotland) Act provides for the functions relating to marine planning at the regional level, out to 12 nautical miles, to be delegated to an appropriate body, to be known as a Marine Planning Partnership. 1.4 It is intended that Marine Planning Partnerships in Scotland will be established over a number of years. In the meantime, Local Coastal Partnerships such as the EGCP will continue with their delivery of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) and contribute to the preparatory work for future Marine Planning Partnerships. 1.5 The UK, being a European Member State until 2021, has had to comply with relevant European legislation. The EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (2014/89/EU) required coastal Member States to prepare marine plans that: take into account interactions between the sea and land; establish means of public participation for stakeholders, authorities and the public concerned; use the best available data and organise the sharing of information between stakeholders. This is unlikely to change due to Brexit. 1.6 Scotland’s network of Local Coastal Partnerships, of which the EGCP is part, is well-placed to help deliver this work, using its experience of stakeholder engagement and Integrated Coastal Management (ICM), which is defined as a dynamic and continuous process designed to promote sustainable management of coastal zones. 3 | Page 2. Purpose of EGCP 2.1 The East Grampian Coastal Partnership (EGCP) was created in 2005 and in 2015 completed its first year as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Whilst the structure of the organisation and the policy context in which it operates might have changed, the original aim of facilitating the delivery of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in the north east of Scotland has not. 2.2 EGCP’s purpose is to facilitate the delivery of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) between Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh to the Aberdeenshire/ Angus Council boundary at the mouth of the River North Esk, by St Cyrus. 3. Objectives of EGCP 3.1 EGCP’s objectives are set out in the company’s Memorandum and Articles, which state that for the coastal environment of the North East of Scotland it will: I. advance environmental protection and improvement; II. advance education related to the coastal environment; III. preserve the heritage relating to the culture of the coast of the north east of Scotland, by: a. delivering integrated coastal management projects and programmes; b. working in partnership with other bodies to achieve these purposes. 4. EGCP Projects In 2021/22, we propose to deliver the following projects: - 4.1 EGCP- ‘Turning the Plastic Tide’, a multi-year Marine Litter Project to educate and engage individuals, communities, and organisations in physically improving the condition of East Grampian beaches for the benefit of all stakeholders. This project made excellent progress in 2019 following the employment of the Project Officer (Crawford Paris) in August 2018. The achievements since project start are captured in the following document. EGCP-TTPT Project Report (2018-2020).pdf 4 | Page NB. Due to the Covid-19 Virus, it is unlikely that any large-scale beach cleans will be undertaken until mid-2021, however we have developed supporting documents that allow individuals to undertake personal Covid risk assessed beach cleans when the opportunity for group activities is limited. 4.2 ‘Discover Maps’ is (initially) a 2-year project, which commenced at the end of 2019, to educate and engage locals and visitors about the East Grampian coast, and will include the development and marketing of four unique digital maps covering the coast from Fraserburgh to St Cyrus. The Discover Maps project proposes a very different and sustainable approach to traditional maps. These maps will be unique, capturing the heritage of our Coast by bringing together stories, memories and history from individuals and communities, in a digital (and subject to demand, paper) product that will engage locals and visitors alike, and lead to an enhanced and responsible approach to tourism for our Coast. This in turn will generate opportunities for businesses in the hospitality and tourism sector. The Project will produce three free-to-access Discover Maps, in digital (PDF) format, covering the area from Peterhead to Blackdog, Muchalls to St Cyrus and Fraserburgh to Peterhead. These will be the second, third and fourth maps in a four-map series that covers the entire Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire coast. The first map, covering the Aberdeen city coast is currently being drafted. The illustration below shows the proposed coverage of the maps, and a schematic from the back of the Aberdeen map. MAP Back.pdf 5 | Page Developing a well-designed and illustrated map to disseminate coastal heritage for our coastline is a novel approach that has been very successful in the ‘Seldom Seen’, project in Morecambe Bay, where such maps have enabled individuals and communities to better reconnect with the coastline. This will be especially important now that we are at the end of the Covid-19 restrictions and people are able to travel to the coast for recreation and leisure activities. Making them free-to-access via our website and mobile devices should ensure a good take-up by the community. It is our intention that these Discover maps will be reprinted and updated every two to three years.

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