Community engagement events for National Marine Plan 2: analysis and synthesis
This report presents findings and recommendations offered by contractors Howell Marine Consulting (HMC) to support the Marine Directorate in development of the National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2).
2 Introduction
Fundamental to the development of an effective NMP2 is ensuring that communities across Scotland are involved in its development; helping to shape the approach taken and support the delivery of Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision. Working with communities to develop a marine plan that works for them is essential to support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s commitment to a just transition, which champions a net zero and climate resilient economy in a fair and equitable way.
Effective stakeholder engagement helps build public awareness of the NMP2 and its objectives, creates transparency in the development process, and provides opportunities for stakeholders to contribute towards the development of draft policies and objectives. Further, engagement with the public enables the Scottish Government to gain a greater understanding of how communities use and value the marine space and what their priorities are.
In line with engagement commitments set out in the Statement of Public Participation and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate invited marine sectors and coastal communities from across Scotland to play an active role in the development of the NMP2. As part of their engagement programme, 15 in-person and online marine sector workshops were held during Spring/Summer 2024 to gather feedback on the draft NMP2 high-level objectives and policy ideas. It total, over 100 organisations attended the events.
Later in 2024, the NMP2 Planning Position Statement (PPS) was published[1], which set out the latest iteration of high-level objectives and policy ideas, in line with the Scottish Government’s legal requirements and commitments related to Scotland’s seas. The PPS was supported by an Explainer Video and Easy Read version to help stakeholders understand and engage on complex issues within the NMP2 and encourage greater participation with the public consultation, which ran from 05 November 2024 to 07 February 2025.
During the consultation period, the Marine Directorate held further engagement events to provide opportunities for stakeholder involvement. This included the second National Marine Planning Forum, which was held in-person in Stirling on 13 November 2024 and attended by around 90 delegates from a wide range of marine sectors and regions. The interactive workshops focused specifically on assessing the proposed policy ideas.
Following the Forum, an online Community Engagement Drop-in session was held on 21 January 2025, with 46 participants attending from across the Scottish regions. This was then followed up with a series of in-person community events in March 2025 with support from the Local Coastal Partnerships for Grampian (Aberdeen) and Solway (Carlisle).
The information gathered through the public engagement events will be fundamental in helping the Marine Directorate understand regional variations, community values, and coastal priorities while developing the NMP2. To support the Marine Directorate in their ongoing development of the NMP2, Howell Marine Consulting (HMC) have conducted a review of the information gathered at the engagement events and synthesised the findings with the aim of providing recommendations on how to take these findings forward.
The information collated and presented in this report represents the views of event attendees only and should, therefore, not be considered as a comprehensive assessment of all community views. The subsequent recommendations presented, developed by HMC, aim to capture the key points raised by event attendees and relate these to the development of the NMP2. There is no obligation for the Marine Directorate, or NMP2 team, to take these recommendations forward.