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You can view the Solent Forum's consultation responses to the preparation of the Marine Bill on our solentforum.org site.
The findings of a series of reviews and reports dating from the Marine Stewardship report in 2002 and the 'Seas of Change' Government response in 2003, suggested that a new approach to managing all marine activities is needed and legislation required to implement it.
On 8 December 2004, Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett launched Defra's Five Year Strategy, which included plans for a new Marine Bill to ensure greater protection of marine resources and simplify regulation so that all uses of the sea can develop in a sustainable and harmonious way.
The Government's vision for the marine environment is for clean healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas. To help deliver this vision Defra is preparing a Marine Bill. Defra hopes that it will put in place a better system for delivering sustainable development of the marine and coastal environment; addressing both the use and protection of our marine resources. Defra has a number of projects underway to assist in the Bill's development.
Introduction to Parliament will be dependent on the availability of Parliamentary time. A draft Marine Bill was included in the Queen's 2007 speech, which proposed a new system of planning for marine and offshore developments for the whole of UK.
Key areas covered by the Marine Bill include: