Marine Protected Area assessments: draft updates to policy

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is consulting on draft updated policies for MPA assessments to inform updates to guidance. The updates to policies are based on feedback from our consultation on draft guidance for compensatory measures in MPAs.

We are seeking views on the draft definitions and principles in the consultation to help improve the effectiveness of the final guidance.

We are particularly keen to hear from marine industries affected by the consenting and planning process on:

• how applicable and feasible these updated policies are
• whether you think this would reduce delays to the consenting process

We have developed these updates for:

• regulatory bodies
• statutory nature conservation bodies
• other public authorities whose functions may affect MPAs
• marine developers

The final guidance will help these groups consider how to avoid, reduce, mitigate and, where necessary, compensate for impacts on the marine environment within MPAs. These proposed updates aim to provide further clarification to help reduce delays to the consenting process.