Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan: Consultation and Modifications Report

2. Overview of the Consultation

2.1. Consultation and engagement

The consultation draft Plan and supporting assessments were deposited for public consultation from 1 August to 25 October 2024.

In accordance with the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, the consultation period for the Plan and SEA Environmental Report were advertised in relevant newspapers and submitted to the SEA Gateway for comment from the Consultation Authorities.

The aim of the consultation, and wider engagement process, was to engage a diverse audience as effectively as possible. This included targeting and designing engagement activities to each island community’s circumstances to capture a diverse range of views and interests. This consultation and engagement process provided valuable information and local knowledge that has informed the preparation of the final Plan and supporting assessments.

OIC is committed to ensuring that local communities have the opportunity to engage directly with the plan-making process and have their voices heard.

2.2. Summary of consultation and engagement activities

Activity: Orkney Marine Planning Advisory Group (OMPAG)

Comment: Meetings have been held with the OMPAG during 2021-24 to guide the development of the Plan. In addition, general and sector specific policy sub-group meetings were held with environmental, community and industry interests to inform the preparation of all the Plan policies, the results of which were reported back to the main advisory group and subject to further discussion and refinement.

Activity: Early engagement workshops and school engagement sessions 2021

Comment: A series of community engagement workshops were delivered across Orkney in 2021 to provide information and gather feedback to inform the preparation of the Plan. These workshops helped to raise awareness about Orkney’s first regional marine plan and how to engage with the plan preparation process.

Classroom engagement sessions were delivered in four schools across Orkney to supporting learning and engage young people in the regional marine planning process.

Activity: Westray Development Trust Conference 2023

Comment: A presentation and engagement stand at the Westray Development Trust Conference 2023. This enabled OIC Marine Planners to raise awareness of regional marine planning in Orkney and the upcoming consultation on the Plan.

Activity: Community consultation and engagement events 2024

Comment: During August to October 2024, nine community drop-in sessions were delivered across Orkney running from 11:00 to 19:00. Locations included Stronsay, Rousay, St Margaret’s Hope, Shapinsay, Hoy, Stromness, Kirkwall, Sanday and Westray.

Activity: Online community consultation and engagement sessions 2024

Comment: Two online information and engagement sessions were delivered in August to October 2024.

Activity: Sharing & recording spatial data 2024

Comment: Building on feedback captured during the engagement process for the Coastal and Marine Recreation Survey in 2023, marine spatial data was captured and ‘ground truthed’ as part of the consultation and engagement events in 2024 to help address data gaps and capture local knowledge.

Activity: Stromness Museum Marine Plan Information Panel

Comment: An information panel about the Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan was displayed at the ‘Nature in a changing Climate’ exhibition at the Stromness Museum. This included information on how to engage with the plan making process.

Activity: Engagement at Orkney Snorkel Trail launch event September 2024

Comment: An engagement stand was set up at the launch of the Orkney Snorkel Trail to engage stakeholders with the Plan making process. Event was hosted by the Stromness Museum and Scottish Wildlife Trust at the Firth Community Centre.

Activity: Social media campaign 2021-24

Comment: Regular updates through OIC and Scottish Government channels, including links to participate and access documents.

Activity: Radio campaign 2024

Comment: Multiple rounds of interviews with BBC Radio Orkney before and during the Plan consultation.

Activity: SmartSTEM Schools Workshops 2024

Comment: SmartSTEM Workshops were delivered by OIC Marine Planners with six student groups (P6 to S2) in June 2024 at Kirkwall Grammar School; an event aimed at raising awareness for careers in Science Technology Engineering and Maths.

The workshops involved playing the Marine Spatial Planning Challenge Board Game with young people to explore marine planning scenarios and capturing the priorities of young people for marine management and planning in Orkney.

Activity: School workshops

Comment: Previous engagement with schools in 2021 demonstrated the desire for follow up sessions. OIC Marine Planners then ran subsequent sessions with four schools in 2024 during the draft Plan consultation period.

Activity: Business Regulatory Impact Assessment – Interviews with businesses

Comment: Six interviews were held with local businesses using a survey questionnaire to gather evidence about any potential positive and negative impacts on businesses as a result of implementing the Plan.

Activity: Information leaflet on the marine plan

Comment: A bespoke factsheet provided an overview of the key elements of the Plan and was distributed to across Orkney communities.

Activity: Orcadian advert

Comment: The Plan and Strategic Environment Assessment consultation was advertised in The Orcadian on the 25 July 2024. An information leaflet on the upcoming consultation events was distributed in the following week’s newspaper.

Activity: Posters

Comment: Posters were put up in key areas around Mainland Orkney and the isles to raise awareness and display information and links to the relevant consultation documents. These activities were supported by the Island Development Trusts.

2.3. Early engagement workshops and school workshops

OIC Marine Planning delivered community engagement workshops in Stronsay, Sanday, Westray and Hoy in Spring/Summer 2022. This helped to engage local communities in the plan making process and outline the scope and purpose of the forthcoming marine plan.

In additional to the engagement outlined in the Statement of Public Participation, workshops were delivered with the Stronsay, Sanday, Westray and Hoy Community Schools.

These workshops were extremely useful to inform community understanding of the plan making process. They also highlighted the need to go above and beyond the statutory engagement requirements to ensure island communities do not feel left out of the process and ensure Local Ecological Knowledge was (and will continue to be) gathered.

Community engagement events took place in Kirkwall, Stromness and St Margaret’s Hope in Spring/Summer 2022 to engage local communities in the plan making process and outline the scope and purpose of the forthcoming marine plan. Again, these were additional events to those outlined in the Statement of Public Participation.

2.4. OIRMP community consultation and engagement events

As part of the public consultation from 1 August to 25 October 2024, ten in-person community consultation events were delivered which ran through the day and into the evening in multiple locations throughout the Orkney Islands, see Section 2.2.

A high turnout was experienced for the consultation events, six of which on the ferry-linked isles as well as Kirkwall, Stromness, Finstown and St Margaret’s Hope. Each event was set up in a location where local people visit as part of their day-to-day activities including local cafés or development trust centres, or youth clubs in order to capture passing local people of all ages. Short presentations and films were used to showcase the Orkney marine environment and highlight the Plan’s relevance within each the local area.

Two further online community consultation and engagement sessions were delivered to maximise participation opportunities.

These events were advertised online, via email and in the printed press. Consultation information was available from the OIC website and was sent out in email alerts to the 360+ Orkney marine planning stakeholders.

From these engagement sessions there was a total of 250 visitors attending, and many in-depth discussions held about the Plan and more general marine topics.

2.5. School and SmartSTEM Workshops

Several workshops were held with schools to ensure young people’s views and voices were captured. During these workshops the OIC Marine Planning team delivered presentations on how marine planning works in Orkney and how it contributes to the sustainable use of the marine environment. The workshops demonstrated how busy the Orkney Islands marine region is in simple terms and set up interactive marine planning scenarios using the Marine Spatial Planning Challenge Game. Young people’s views were captured on what they believe are important aspects of the sea, and how they should be managed.

Ten local school class sessions were delivered by the OIC Marine Planning team to engage pupils on marine planning issues and to find out what they valued about the marine environment. This included four lessons delivered in 2022 as part of the early engagement process, three workshops delivered in conjunction with a Kirkwall Grammer School SmartSTEM event, and the remaining three sessions during the formal regional marine plan consultation in 2024. The ages of the children ranged from 7 to 15 years old.

These lessons/workshops included a 30-minute interactive presentation exploring the marine developments and activities around Orkney and the many ways in which local communities rely on the ocean, and a summary of what marine planning involves. This was followed by playing an adapted version of the Marine Spatial Planning Challenge boardgame, with a scenario set up resembling the marine planning challenges faced in Orkney, before finishing up by asking the young people to write down and discuss their answers to two questions.

• Question 1: What is the most important thing about the sea for you?
• Question 2: If you were asked to manage the sea, what would you do?

These questions were specifically chosen to identify what young people value the most about the marine environment, and what they would like to see being done in the future. This information has been used to assess and inform the Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan aims and objectives, to ensure they reflect young voices and aspirations.

Over 150 answers to the two questions were captured, with many more noted following the discussions that took place. The most mentioned theme in relation to Question 1 (What is the most important thing about the sea for you?) was nature conservation, with a heavy focus in all workshops being on the need to protect wildlife. This was focused on general species and habitat preservation, but led to discussions on many related impacts, in particular issues around marine litter and other more general pollution concerns. The other reoccurring topics were the importance of fishing as a food source and income (and the need to protect fish so that fishing can continue), the scenic views, and the need to keep the sea clean for us to enjoy it. Many children talked about their enjoyment of swimming and playing in the sea.

The children’s knowledge and comments about marine related jobs, fishing and marine habitats and species was remarkably well informed. A high percentage of the children stated that their parents and families worked in fishing, aquaculture, marine energy, oil and gas and marine transport.

When asked “If you were asked to manage the sea, what would you do?”, the responses received were very diverse. Again, conservation themes ran throughout with the two most raised topics being reducing litter and protecting fish and wildlife. Several more locally relevant topics came up in discussion, including the need to improve local piers, reduce power cuts on the smaller islands, the need for more modern ferries and more general comments on keeping the sea clean. The topic of salmon farms was raised on several occasions, with mixed opinions between children. There was a good understanding on the need to balance human wellbeing (e.g. ‘fish to eat’) and nature conservation.

2.6. Business Regulatory Impact Assessment – Interviews with businesses

Six interviews with businesses of varying sizes were carried out as part of the BRIA process. This included two businesses from the aquaculture sector, two from the energy sector, one from fisheries and one from a local tourism operator. This helped to capture varied views on the Plans’ impacts on businesses from a variety of sectors and businesses of a range of sizes. This part of the consultation has helped to assess the likely costs, benefits and risks of implementing the Plan for businesses and employers. Consideration has been given to the potential for any disproportionate impacts or benefits for micro/small businesses in comparison to businesses of greater size.

Questions presented to businesses during these interviews included:

• Which of the policies in the Plan does the business feel might provide either benefits/opportunities or costs/risks?
• Will the Plan have an impact on the competitiveness of your business?
• Within your industry, will the Plan affect suppliers’ ability and/or incentive to introduce new technologies, products or business models?
• For small and micro businesses only, will the Plan create a disproportionate distribution of benefits/impacts towards businesses due to their size?

The BRIA interviews followed guidance and information provided within the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment: Toolkit^[2]. The findings from the consultation on the Plan and the BRIA interviews have informed the preparation of the BRIA and the final Plan.