Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan: strategic environmental assessment post-adoption statement

3 Integration of Environmental Considerations

3.1.1 This section explains how key environmental considerations were identified and how these were taken into account when developing the Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan.

3.1.2 Environmental considerations were a driver at the outset of the development of the Plan, which aims to help achieve ambitious and urgent commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity decline and for the country to become Nature Positive by 2030. It also aims to support the ambition to restore and regenerate biodiversity across Scotland by 2045.

3.1.3 The 2005 Act and the 2004 Regulations require Scottish public bodies or those exercising functions of a public character (Responsible Authorities) to undertake a SEA when preparing plans, programmes or strategies if they are likely to have significant environmental effects. To assist with the development of the Plan and meet legal obligations, an SEA was undertaken. A combined Screening and Scoping Report was published in January 2025, setting out the proposed approach to the SEA, including the proposed scope and level of detail required.

3.1.4 The SEA has played an integral role in highlighting the environmental factors to be considered in the development of the Plan. The following eight SEA topics and 13 objectives were scoped into the assessment (confirmed through scoping consultation):

• Biodiversity, Flora, and Fauna; Soil; Water; and Climatic Factors

(1) Accelerate ecosystem restoration and regeneration, to support achievement of the SBS vision for 2045;

(2) Enhance marine and coastal habitats, species and ecosystems;

(3) Promote climate change mitigation;

(4) Contribute to maintaining or achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) of the marine environment;

(5) Contribute to ‘Good Ecological Status’ of water bodies that fall under the scope of the Plan; and

(6) Support resilience of Scotland’s biodiversity to the potential effects of climate change (adaptation).

• Cultural Heritage

(7) Support the conservation/ enhancement of cultural and historical heritage associated with the marine environment.

• Landscape/Seascape

(8) Minimise negative landscape/seascape character and/or visual impacts; and

(9) Support enhancement of marine and coastal ecosystems.

• Population and Human Health

(10) Supporting the physical health, mental health and wellbeing benefits for people from nature;

(11) Reducing risk of harm to people from natural hazards, including storms, flooding and coastal erosion; and

(12) Limiting the human health impacts of water pollution.

• Material Assets

(13) Consideration of impacts to existing infrastructure (e.g., formal flood defences) to aid in environmental enhancement.

3.1.5 The preparation of the Scoping Report and environmental baseline for the SEA ensured that environmental considerations were taken into account in the Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan. Subsequent consultation with the SEA Consultation Authorities assisted in confirming key environmental issues for further consideration in the assessment stage.

3.1.6 Consideration was also given to the duty on Scottish Ministers under Section 14 of the United Kingdom (UK) Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 (“the 2021 Act”)^[11], to have due regard to the guiding principles on the environment in making policies (including proposals for legislation) and to record how due regard has been given to the principles in preparing the Environmental Report.

3.1.7 The potential environmental effects of the Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan were considered at a high level against each of the guiding principles:

• Protecting the environment should be integrated into the making of policies:
  • The SEA was undertaken at an early stage in the plan or policy preparation process, ensuring that decision-making was informed by relevant environmental information. Environmental considerations were therefore integrated into the policy development.
• The precautionary principle as it relates to the environment^[12]:
  • Due to its dynamic nature, a degree of uncertainty will always exist when seeking to understand environmental effects in the marine environment. The SEA drew on the best available evidence to understand the likely positive, neutral, and negative effects of the Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan. A lack of full scientific certainty will not be used as a reason for postponing the implementation of the Plan.
• Preventative action should be taken to avert environmental damage:
  • The Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan provides a framework to encourage active restoration to reverse existing environmental damage and promote progress towards Scottish biodiversity and climate change targets.
• Environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source:
  • The Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan helps to restore and improve degraded and lost habitats and species, reversing this damage through active restoration. Should active restoration also require pressure management, this will prevent potential environmental damage.
• The polluter should pay:
  • The Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan will help to restore and improve degraded and lost habitats and species, reversing this damage through active restoration. The Plan will help to leverage investment into the marine environment across a range of stakeholders and delivery partners.