Objective: To seek to maintain our freedom to Sail and Navigate in a Sustainable Environment.

The RYA Eastern Region extends from the QE2 Bridge to the Wash and inland outside of the M25 to the M1 corridor, including the Fens and parts of Hertfordshire. For environmental issues the western Thames boundary is the Thames Barrier, as that coincides with an Environment Agency boundary.

As the Environmental and Planning Co-ordinator for the Eastern Region (ERPEC) my role, along with that of all the Regional and Home Country RPECs is to:

• Monitor planning and environmental issues in the region;
• Co-ordinate and prepare the responses to issues seen to affect recreational boaters, their facilities and their freedom to navigate;
• Advise the Regional Committee and the Planning and Environmental Advisor of the RYA on these issues.

Chris Edwards

The East Coast is one of the most dynamic in the British Isles. Forever changing and being assaulted by wind and waves it also faces further challenges from coastal development and the growth of Offshore Electricity Generation Schemes (wind, wave and tidal).

The East Coast could be said to be alive. Strong tidal currents shift huge quantities of silt and shingle many miles, denuding one section of coastal foreshore only to recharge and silt up another.

The famous sand banks of the Thames Estuary walk steadily north eastwards under this unremitting pressure from wind and tide. Into this environment now comes the long-term effect of the burning of carbon fuels, with resultant climate change and rising sea levels.

Benfleet Slip looking East down the Creek

Here in the Eastern Region, with its extensive low lying land, the rising sea levels result in erosion of low cliffs, a loss of saltmarsh and other habitats, and increased pressure on existing sea sea defences. This is not helped by the fact that the region is slowly sinking back into the seabed under Isostatic Pressure (the tilting of the British Isles downwards in the South as it recovers from the depression of the North under the ice of 10,000 years ago).

In an attempt to mitigate these changes Government and NGO’s spurred on by European (EU) legislation, seek to manage activities on and off the waters of the coastal strip by introducing positive steps to create more habitat, particularly salt marsh, to set up Marine Conservation Zones and introduce marine planning that is linked to the existing onshore planning system. Some of these measures will undoubtedly impact on our freedom of navigation and boating facilities.

Aims

Our aim is to achieve sustainable boating and to achieve a balance between conservation and our freedom of navigation. We also seek to raise awareness among recreational sailors of the issues and of the measures that can be taken to ensure that we operate sympathetically with the environment that is such an important part of our enjoyment.

Thus co-operate with the responsible authorities to achieve a sensible balance, and ensure that the three aspects of sustainable development are ALL taken into account:

• Economic
• Environmental
• Social

(As well as the technical feasibility of the proposals)

The principal environmental measures facing us are:

• Estuary and Coastal Management Schemes (EU Bird and Habitat Directives)
• Estuary and Coastal Flood Management Strategies
• Marine Conservation Zones and Marine Planning (MCZ, MP)
• River Basin Management Plans (EU Water Framework Directive)
• Offshore Renewable Electricity Generation schemes

Estuary and coastal management, and flood management schemes have been considered as part of Round Two of the development of Shoreline Management Plans (SMP's)’ which await signing off by Ministers. They are also dealt with under a new policy of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM), which considers ways of dealing with these issues and sharing the costs between Government, Local Authorities and individual landowners or groups of landowners.

Marine Conservation Zones

Two of the four national MCZ projects affect the the RYA’s Eastern Region: NetGain covering the coast and sea from the north side of the Deben entrance to the Scottish border and Balanced Seas covering from the Deben across the Thames Estuary and along to the Hampshire/Dorset border.

After two years of tremendous hard work by all involved, the projects submitted their final recommendations to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)) in September 2011.

Foreshore at Bradfield on the Stour at Low Water

The proposals for Marine Conservation Zones to protect habitats and species will be scrutinised by officials and then recommended to Ministers by the end of 2011 with Public Consultation to follow early in 2012. Throughout the process the RYA has sought to limit the impact of the measures to protect these habitats and species on recreational boating. In the spirit of co-operation we have worked to ensure the proposals are supported by sound scientific data and the protection measures are commensurate with a balanced minimum need. Because discussion of these measures was limited by the need for the projects to first establish the draft MCZs before discussing protection we have not been able to consider actual measures for all sites.

However, we have established the principle that voluntary measures that can be seen to be reasonable have much the best chance of being accepted and adhered to. We are reasonably confident that some limitation on anchoring, except in an emergency is the most likely measure to affect us.

Other Measures

The RYA has been active in the development of River Basin Management Plans. The Environment Agency (EA) is now responsible for implementing those plans and holds twice yearly Stakeholder Liaison Meetings, which we attend, to review progress. These initial plans have very little impact on recreational boating as they concern primarily measures required to achieve ‘Good Ecological Status’ for water bodies by Water Companies and Agriculture. The next phase of plans due in 2015 may have a greater impact on us.

The development of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems (ORELs) has been closely followed by the RYA and we have been involved since the early 2000s in discussions with Government Departments, the MCA, Trinity House and Developers. We developed an RYA Position Paper, which is currently being updated, in which we set out our minimum requirements for safe navigation and produced a document called ‘Sharing the Wind’.

The big Jackup barge installing the 5th turbine on the Gunfleet

The key issues were and still are:

• A minimum air clearance of 22 metres between the tips of rotor blades and MHWS to ensure that there would be safe masthead clearance for 97% of the UK yacht fleet.
• A minimum depth clearance of 3.5 metres (now 4.0 metres) to underwater obstructions.

We then developed, in conjunction with the Cruising Association (CA) and supported by Trinity House, an Atlas of Cruising Routes and Sailing and Racing areas around the UK. This was updated and issued as a CD in 2009. We have been and remain closely involved the three rounds of Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) and are consulted on the Navigation Risk Assessments for all sites and zones so far leased by the Crown Estate; and our requirements have been met. We also cover the development of Wave and Tidal Systems which are progressively emerging, though not so far off our Eastern Region coast.

Chris Edwards - Eastern Regional Planning and Environmental Co-ordinator

 

Environmental Report dated 7th December 2011 more >>>