Draft RBMPs in Scotland

There are variations in the draft Plans specifically related to the situation in the devolved administrations and these can be found by clicking on the countries below:

• England and Wales
• Northern Ireland and Ireland
• Responses to dRBMPs

The draft River Basin Management Plan for
the Scotland River Basin District has been produced by SEPA, the Competent Authority for Scotland, together with National and Area Advisory Groups, involving a wide range of organisations with an interest in the water environment.

The draft Management Plan for the Solway Tweed River Basin District was prepared in
co-operation with the Environment Agency and can be seen at:

(http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning.aspx).

The draft plans for the two River Basin Districts in Scotland consist of four main components:

• The river basin district plans which give information on what is planned to protect and improve the water environment for the Scotland and Solway Tweed river basin districts. For the Solway Tweed RBD there is also a separate document ‘List of Measures for English water bodies’.
• A series of 11 annexes which provide technical detail on the key aspects of the river planning process (1 – Pressures and Risks, 2 – Classification, 3 –Objectives, 4 - Artificial and Heavily Modified Water Bodies, 5 - Protected Areas, 6 - Mechanisms for Action, 7 - Competent Authorities, 8 - Links to other Planning Processes, 9 - Cost Recovery, 10 - Consultation and Engagement, 11 - How this Plan Meets WFD requirements.
• Area management plans (8 in the Scotland RBD and 3 in Solway Tweed RBD), which supplement the draft river basin district plans and provide regional information and describe local actions.
• A web-based interactive map powered by a geographical information system (GIS) which offers information on individual rivers, lochs, lakes, estuaries, coastal water and groundwater and provides details on the condition of each water body and the proposed environmental objectives for that water body. The map can be accessed at

http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning.aspx

The Main Consultation document

The contents page of the River basin district plan indicates the chapters and lists the many figures and annexes to the Plan.

• About this plan
• Public consultation – make your views heard
• About the Scotland river basin district
• Assessing the state of our water environment
• Environmental objectives
• Achieving the objectives – developing a programme of measures
• Abstraction and flow regulation
• Pollution
• Changes to morphology
• Invasive non-native species
• Climate change 
• Identifying and continued improvements in meeting good status by 2027
• Implementation of the Scotland river basin district management plan

The following most significant issues have been identified in the RBDs in Scotland:

• Abstraction and flow regulation for electricity generation, drinking water supply and agricultural abstraction
• Diffuse pollution from rural and urban land
• Point source pollution from sewage, mining and quarrying and aquaculture
• Morphological changes - the physical habitat, including the presence of barriers to fish movement, of a watercourse from engineering activities and agriculture
• Invasive non-native species

Draft Area Management Plans :
‘Have your say on improving the quality of our water environment’

The draft plans for the Scotland and the Solway Tweed RBDs set wider context of the draft area management plans that have been developed under the advice and guidance of the Area Advisory Groups, AAGs.  The AAGs have members from statutory agencies, the agricultural sector, conservation organisations, the forestry sector and local fisheries boards and other stakeholders within the area.

There are eight draft area management plans for the Scotland RBD

• Argyll
• Clyde
• Forth
• North East Scotland
• North Highland
• Orkney and Shetland
• Tay
• West Highland

and three in the Solway Tweed RBD

• North Solway
• South Solway
• Tweed

An Environmental Report

Under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, an environmental assessment of the effects the Scotland and Solway Tweed RBMPs may have on the environment is required. An Environmental Report has been prepared which meets the requirements under this legislation. Comments can be submitted to rbmp@sepa.org.uk before 9th April 2009. This document contains all the information about the assessment, including a description of the assessment process, a summary of all the potential environmental effects the plan may have and a programme for monitoring.

Impact Assessment of the River Basin Management Plan

Documents on the Impact Assessment of the River Basin Management Plan for the Scotland River Basin District and for the Solway Tweed River Basin District are summary reports relating to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and River Basin Management Planning process in Scotland RBD and in Solway Tweed RBD. This Impact Assessment focuses on the measures identified to deliver WFD environmental objectives in the first river basin management plan cycle (by 2015).

The above documents are available for download at the SEPA website:
(http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning.aspx).

Where can I find detailed information about the draft RBMPs?

The ecological status, objectives and actions to improve the condition of individual rivers, lochs, estuaries or coastal waters in which you have a particular interest can be found from the interactive GIS map at:
http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning.aspx