News and Events

The BPA’s Scottish Parliamentary Recption will take place at Holyrood on 1 December 2010 between 6pm-8pm. Following the success of last year’s ‘Ports’ event the BPA has teamed up with the Chamber of Shipping to jointly host a Maritime Reception.

All coastal MSPs and those with relevant Ministerial or Committee positions will be invited along with a range of representatives from the maritime industries and government agencies. Invitations will be sent out shortly but if you would like to attend or any further details please contact us.

We will also be holding the autumn Scottish Port Committee meeting earlier that afternoon in Edinburgh and we would appreciate it if Scottish members could keep the date in their diary.

The Scottish Marine Bill was passed in February 2010. It contains provisions to modernise and streamline the management of the marine environment to enable the new overarching a Scottish marine management organisation ‘Marine Scotland’ to manage Scottish marine issues. Marine Scotland came into force in April and was formed by joining a number of existing marine organisations together. Marine Scotland will not deal with HROs and this is a significant difference with the English and Welsh Act.

The legislation will also introduce new measures for marine planning and propose that a new national marine strategic plan be developed. The Bill as passed can be found here.

The most important aspects of the Act for BPA members can be found here.

The BPA’s Scottish Ports Committee hosted the first ever Parliamentary Ports Reception for MSPs at Holyrood on 24 November.

The Reception was an invaluable opportunity for MSPs and the Scottish Government to meet with representatives of the Scottish ports industry and discuss a number topical issues that are of interest to the maritime sector in Scotland.

Further details and a copy of the information handout we produced for the event can be found here.

In April 2009 the Scottish Marine Bill was introduced to Scottish Parliament. The Bill will be scrutinized by the Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Environment Committee before entering the next Parliamentary stages later in the year. Further details can be found here.

The BPA gave evidence to the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee on in the summer 2009 and looks forward to voicing the ports industry’s concerns during the Bill’s passage through the Scottish Parliament.

Marine Scotland, the new marine management body, was launched by the Scottish Government on 1 April. It will play a key role in managing Scotland’s seas, with direct responsibility for marine science, planning, policy development, management and compliance monitoring measures.

The new body will have direct responsibility for core marine functions, which include both the existing functions of the Marine Directorate, FRS (Marine and Freshwater Fisheries), and SFPA, and also planned new functions of marine planning, improved nature conservation measures and better integrated licensing, consents and monitoring arrangements.

Further details can be found here.

In December 2008 the Scottish Government announced details of its Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR), which sets out the future investment programme for transport in Scotland over the next 20 years – the biggest Scottish transport plan ever published.

The Review includes 29 major transport investment priorities across Scotland and it can be found here.

In December 2008 the Scottish Government published the Proposed Framework for its ‘National Planning Framework for Scotland 2’.

The National Planning Framework 2 builds on the first NPF, and sets out a strategic vision to 2030, highlighting 10 nationally significant projects for Scotland. It identifies priorities and opportunities for each part of the country in spatial perspectives for the Central Belt, the East Coast, the Highlands and Islands, Ayrshire and the South-West and the South of Scotland. The Proposed Framework can be found here.

The NPF2 contains three specfic ports projects and the BPA’s original response to the proposals can be found here.

The BPA submitted a response to the Commission on Scottish Devolution 10 year review consultation in the summer of 2008 and on 2 December the Commission published its interim report. The final report will be produced in spring 2009. The BPA’s original response was broadly supportive of the ports industry’s experiences of devolution and it can be found here.

The following engagement events have been arranged for March 2009, this time with more specific themes relating to the second phase of the Commission’s work:

Stirling – 6 March 2009
“Parliaments and Governments – working together for Scotland?”
Tolbooth, Jail Wynd, 11am to 2pm

Aberdeen – 12 March 2009
“Devolution – good for business?”
Pittodrie Stadium, 11am to 2pm

Orkney and Shetland – 30 March 2009
“Devolution – still at a distance?”
Shetland Museum, Hay’s Dock, Lerwick, 11am to 1pm

The Scottish Marine Bill Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental (SEA) Report and separate Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment were both open to public consultation (in January 2009) and the BPA’s reposne can be found in the members area of our website.

The SEA sets out results of the environmental assessment of the Scottish Marine Bill consultation. It identifies and evaluates the likely significant environmental effects of implementing the proposals as well as opportunities for enhancing and improving their overall sustainability.