One stop shop for conservation advice on European Marine Sites
4 December 2012
Detailed conservation advice for European Marine Sites (EMS) is now available in one central location on our website. Natural England has created the new page in our publications catalogue in response to many requests from our customers.
Anyone wanting Natural England’s conservation advice on proposed developments or activities can now access the latest information
for themselves. This may help speed up application processes, saving time on initial proposal discussions. The documents explain why individual EMS were designated, their sensitivities and the activities that are permitted or require consent.
The statutory Conservation Advice Package is available for England’s EMS, together with supporting documents and maps (where available). If you know the name of the EMS just select it from the alphabetical list, or locate it on the map.
What is Natural England’s role?
Natural England is responsible for providing nature conservation advice to the relevant authorities and users of EMS in English territorial waters, and for providing joint advice with other Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies for cross-border and offshore sites.
What is an EMS?
The term ‘European Marine Sites’ (EMS) is used to describe the collection of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs) that are covered by tidal waters. Some well known examples in English waters include the Wash and North Norfolk Coast SAC, the Isles of Scilly Complex SAC, and Poole Harbour SPA. They have been designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives in order to protect some of our most important marine and coastal habitats and wildlife species.
If you have any further questions regarding conservation advice please contact mcaproject@naturalengland.org.uk
