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

6 Reasons for Selecting the Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan as Adopted

6.1.1 The 2005 Act and 2004 Regulations require that the Environmental Report identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects on the environment of any reasonable alternatives to the plan or programme, taking into account its objectives and geographical scope.

6.1.2 Following the comments made by respondents to the 2025 Environmental Report^[16],[17], the Scottish Government has published the final Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan^[18].

6.1.3 It was recognised by the Scottish Government that some stakeholders have fundamental concerns about the scope of the Plan, in particular the primary focus on active restoration rather than pressure management (or ‘passive’ restoration). The Scottish Government’s response to the consultation analysis report recognised the intrinsic links with pressure management, and noted that pressure management is within the remit of the Plan where it is needed to support active restoration.

6.1.4 The response also reiterated the significant body of policy work with a focus on pressure management already underway or in development, and that the actions set out in the Plan primarily target active restoration in the first instance as this is an area where the Scottish Government has not had a clear policy to date. However, the Plan includes a specific action to ensure that pressure management supports active restoration where necessary, and elements of pressure management are a core part of several actions across the Plan. Further measures relating to pressure management may be revisited as part of the five-year review cycle of the Plan. As the Scottish Government implements the Plan, it will also continue to link in with wider marine environmental policies.