National Marine Plan 2 - planning position statement: consultation analysis

Introduction

The development of Scotland’s National Marine Plan 2 (NMP2) was publicly announced in October 2022. This was in response to statutory reviews of the adopted National Marine Plan (NMP) undertaken in 2018 and 2021, which found that the existing plan did not adequately reflect current policy and legislation evolution or emerging issues, including increased competition for space or the twin climate and biodiversity crises.

In accordance with the NMP2 Statement of Public Participation and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy (revised August 2024), and as part of our commitment to consider just transition principles in the marine planning process, the NMP2 Planning Position Statement (PPS) provided an early opportunity for stakeholders to comment on proposed policy ideas to help shape the draft NMP2.

The PPS summarised what work had been undertaken to date to develop the NMP2, consolidated stakeholder feedback and set out the latest thinking in the development of high-level objectives and policy ideas for NMP2. This is in line with legal requirements and commitments related to Scotland’s seas.

The PPS went to public consultation on 5 November 2024 and ran for 14 weeks, closing on 7 February 2025. This report looks at the wide range of views expressed throughout in response to the consultation. It seeks to provide a thematic analysis of the main topics raised and summarise stakeholder reaction to the proposals set out.

Background

Scotland’s first NMP was adopted in 2015 to help manage the use of Scotland’s seas in a sustainable way. It set out our vision for clean, healthy, safe, productive and diverse seas, managed correctly to meet the long term needs of nature and people.

The NMP is a statutory document. All public authorities (Marine Directorate, wider Scottish Government, Local Planning Authorities, statutory advisors, regulators and agencies) must make authorisation or enforcement decisions which may affect Scotland’s marine area in accordance with the current marine plan, unless relevant considerations indicate otherwise. In accordance with Scottish and UK legislation^[1], there is a requirement to review and publish a report on the implementation of the NMP^[2]. Marine Directorate has undertaken reviews of the NMP every three years since its adoption, in 2018, 2021 and in 2024.

Findings from statutory reviews in 2018 and 2021, as well as stakeholder feedback, highlighted the need to update the National Marine Plan to help tackle the twin climate and biodiversity crises and support our net zero ambition.

The 2021 review concluded that, whilst the National Marine Plan remains effective, there have been significant national and global developments, which impact our use and management of Scotland’s marine resources. This ultimately resulted in the announcement of the intention to develop NMP2 in October 2022.

The 2024 review maintained that the adopted NMP remained fit for purpose as an effective policy framework against which decisions in the marine environment can be based. However, the review identified potential opportunities for the emerging NMP2 to improve on the existing policy and implementation.

The NMP2 PPS was designed to summarise work undertaken to date to progress its development, including the consolidation of stakeholder feedback. It set out high-level objectives and proposed policy ideas, in line with legal requirements and commitments related to Scotland’s seas, to provide an early opportunity for stakeholders to comment on proposed policy ideas to help shape the draft NMP2 from the outset.

NMP2 engagement

Only by listening and speaking with the people who use or rely on Scotland’s seas can we better understand their needs, and use their experience and knowledge to help create a new plan that works for the people of Scotland.

Our vision for engagement during NMP2 development remains to ensure everyone who uses, relies on or has an interest in Scotland’s seas has the opportunity to inform decision-making in the marine space, and they embrace the National Marine Plan as a key resource to guide decision-making.

By taking a staged approach and engaging at key points throughout the plan development, we are offering opportunities for stakeholders to participate in the collaborative development of policy ideas, helping to shape the plan.

Developing a new National Marine Plan

Since Scottish Ministers announced the intention to develop a new National Marine Plan, NMP2 officials have spoken with 338 organisations across different stakeholder groups and marine sectors to support statutory assessments and policy drafting. The refreshed NMP2 stakeholder engagement strategy and statement of public participation was published in August 2024. The revised engagement strategy set out how and when stakeholders could get involved in developing NMP2, offering opportunities for industry, communities, and individuals to be involved in the iterative development of the plan; using their knowledge and experiences to better understand the needs of those using or relying on Scotland’s seas.

Figure 1 below shows the varied engagement methods employed by the NMP2 team since 2023 to help ensure stakeholders were offered a range of opportunities to share their views.

Engagement opportunities

Marine Planning Forums

Two dedicated National Marine Planning Forums have been held for representatives from across marine sectors to come together to influence the development of NMP2 by considering cross sector issues. The first was held in Edinburgh in June 2023, which attracted 64 attendees in-person and 189 registered online attendees. This was followed by a second forum, held in Stirling in November 2024, with around 90 delegates from a wide range of marine sectors and regions attending an in-person only event. This event was part of a wider two-day event which hosted regional marine planning discussions on day one and national marine planning on day two.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) scoping report

To support the statutory assessments of draft NMP2, which aim to understand the potential impacts on communities, marine sectors and the environment, a consultation was held in Autumn 2023 asking for views on the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Scoping Report. This consultation was accompanied by 10 Consultation Cafes designed to support and encourage constructive feedback, and were attended by 76 individuals from across the marine sectors. The consultation analysis report was published in August 2024 and has been used to inform the approach to the SEA.

NMP2 Steering Group

The NMP2 Steering is comprised of over 30 organisations, all representing marine sector interests across Scotland, and was formed to provide advice on the statutory assessments for NMP2. Four NMP2 Steering Group meetings have been held to date, with the most recent meeting in November 2024.

High-level objectives workshops

Throughout Spring and Summer 2024 an ambitious programme of stakeholder engagement was undertaken. This included 14 marine sector workshops, with over 100 organisations signing up to provide feedback on the proposed high-level objectives and policy ideas for the draft NMP2.

Community engagement

A community drop-in session was held online in January 2025 and was attended by 46 people from across Scotland including: Arran, Aberdeenshire, Isle of Canna, Solway, Orkney and Shetland. Interactive methods using Miro boards were used to document feedback on policy ideas and ask people what they would like to see in the NMP2.

Follow up in-person community events were held with the Local Coastal Partnerships for Grampian (Aberdeen) and Solway (Carlisle) to explore in more detail the regional elements that NMP2 could support.

To ensure feedback from the community events is considered in NMP2 development, Howell Marine Consultancy was contracted to consolidate and process the information received and gather insights into a report highlighting the perceived planning priorities across Scotland. The report will be published in August 2025.

Alignment with other strategies and commitments

Throughout NMP2 development officials have worked collaboratively with marine planning counterparts from Welsh, Northern Ireland and UK governments to ensure wider commitments and obligations set out in legislation and relevant strategies can be supported in their delivery through marine planning.

This has also been replicated with teams and departments throughout Scottish Government to ensure teams leading key policy areas could provide valuable input and insights. That includes policy areas such as; fisheries, aquaculture, offshore renewables, marine environment, just transition, and climate change.

This consultation

The consultation on the NMP2 PPS was conducted using the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space consultation portal, with responses welcomed from 5 November 2024 to 7 February 2025. Responses via email or post were also accepted.

Consultees were guided through the online consultation with references highlighting the corresponding section of the PPS document to be read before answering the questions. An Easy Read version of the PPS and an Explainer video were shared on social media and through various online newsletters to help respondents identify where the PPS featured in overall NMP2 development.

The consultation asked for thoughts and views on 13 questions covering the following themes:

• Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• Nature
• Sustainable Marine Economy
• Wellbeing and Accessibility
• Implementation

There was a total of 102 responses, which have all been individually read and considered by the Marine Directorates NMP2 team. A list of respondents where permission has been given to name the organisation can be found in Annex A.

Methodology – overview

This consultation analysis report has been undertaken in-house, by the NMP2 policy team. The Citizen Space platform was used for collating responses and reflects our aspirations for good consultation through open, high quality, standardised processes. The platform allows Scottish Government officials to access, moderate and publish responses, while it also provides some analytical reports.

As responses contained a large volume of evidence and views, this report seeks to consider the key themes and issues raised; it does not seek to repeat every individual point. Where consent has been given to publish the response, it may be found on Citizen Space.

As with any public consultation exercise, it is important to understand that the sample of responses to the consultation cannot ever be considered to be representative of the wider population. The responses to the consultation are a self-selecting sample, as people or organisations who have a keen interest in the topic area, who hold strong views, and who have the capacity to respond are much more likely to take part.

Methodology - analysis and reporting

As is usual for a Scottish Government consultation, a question by question analysis report was chosen for reporting the outcomes.

A thematic analysis approach was taken to capture the main opinions expressed by respondents and to explore overarching feedback. This has informed both this analysis report and our next steps for development of NMP2.

When considering and summarising the responses, respondents were allocated to one of seven groups relative to their sector for ease of analysis. These are demonstrated in the respondent profile below.

It is important to note that, where the analysis conveys a theme or issue raised via a grouping, this does not always represent every viewpoint in this grouping. Rather, it is displaying the general theme or consensus emerging from many of the group.

Respondent profile

Figure 2 below shows the respondents to the PPS consultation grouped by sector. The largest single group of respondents was from the public sector (18%), followed by environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) (17%) and Fishers (14%), which also includes fisheries associations and fish producer organisations.

Representatives from the renewables sector accounted for 11%, and from aquaculture 5% of the responses. Individuals accounted for 12% of the feedback and amongst the ‘others’ category were responses from academia, community groups and professional bodies totalling 23% of the overall responses.