Northumberland County Council

Lead Contact Details

Name: David Feige
Email: david.feige@northumberland.gov.uk
Tel: 01670 622653

Status

Local Authority

Geography Area Covered

County of Northumberland down to mean low water

Membership Details

The partnership governance groups this organisation is represented on

• Management Partnership
• Steering Group

Marine Protected Areas

Northumberland County Council operates, or has management which influence, on the following inshore marine protected areas between Fast Castle Head and the River Tyne:

• Berwick to St Mary’s MCZ
• Berwickshire and North Northumberland Coast SAC
• Tweed Estuary SAC
• Northumbria Coast SPA
• Lindisfarne SPA
• Farne Islands SPA
• Coquet Island SPA
• Northumberland Marine SPA
• Aln Estuary Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ)
• Coquet to St Mary’s MCZ

Responsibilites

Management Actions

Northumberland County Council  has the following management measures in place to ensure its functions and regulatory powers are carried out in a manner that achieves the conservation objectives for the inshore marine protected areas in which it operates:

1. All strategic plans and policies produced by Northumberland County Council (NCC) will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment, where required.
2. All planning applications will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment, where required.
3. Where unconsented works take place, NCC will ensure enforcement action is taken if those works have negatively impacted the features of marine protected areas listed above.
4. Shoreline management plan reviews will take coastal squeeze of protected habitats into account and will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment, where required.
5. Capital coastal protection schemes will consider opportunities to work with natural coastal processes as alternatives to hard defences and all projects will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment, where required.
6. The sensitivities and conservation objectives of marine protected areas will be embedded in oil and chemical spill contingency and response plans, and the plans will be subject to a Habitat Regulations Assessment, where required.
7. There will be no mechanical beach cleaning at beaches between October and March

Data, Information and Mapping

Northumberland County Council  holds the following data that could be of interest to other partners who are responsible for managing marine areas:

Data on important locations for wintering birds: GIS information based on interviews with WeBS recorders (contact NCC Conservation Team for details of access)