The Solent Forum
Working in partnership for the future
The Solent's coastal community is working towards the recovery of nature in both the marine and coastal environments. In January 2024, the Solent Forum worked with the Responsible Authorities (RAs) to host a workshop to support the development of the coastal aspects of the Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS). The statutory guidance requires that LNRS follow administrative boundaries as far as mean low water. In May 2024, Defra clarified that RAs should not include marine; work is underway at the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) to explore how spatial planning for marine nature recovery might develop in the future.
The Forum continues to have an ambition to promote recovery for both marine and coast ensuring the links between marine and the coastal margins and estuaries; the Solent Seascape Project is key to developing successful long term Solent nature recovery. The Forum proposes to:
The Solent Seascape Project is a partnership aiming to reconnect the Solent into a functioning and productive ecosystem for people, nature, and climate. It brings together local stakeholders to develop and co-create a long-term seascape recovery plan that supports better management of existing Solent marine and coastal habitats. This project runs from 2023 to 2028. It will form an integral part of nature recovery for the Solent in the longer term, contributing to local priorities and delivering opportunities to improve nature. Part of the project is the development of a Solent Nature Data Portal and a Solent State of Nature Report. The Solent Forum is supporting this project.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) were brought in under the Environment Act, 2021. Responsible Authorities (Hampshire and Sussex County Councils and the Isle of Wight Council) are required to develop them and report on progress every five years. They include the intertidal and terrestrial habitats in the 'coastal zone of influence' such as saline lagoons, coastal grazing marsh and wader roosting and feeding sites. The inform the planning system but do not designate or allocate land in planning terms. The Strategy is designed to work closely with Local Plans to ensure that biodiversity and sustainable development are prioritised within land use planning. The maps will be updated every 3-10 years which will be determined by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. After devolution the Strategies will sit with the Mayoral Authority.
The Solent's coast is covered by the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and West Sussex LNRS'. They include:
LNRS' support a strategic approach to off-site biodiversity net gain delivery by agreeing evidence-based locations to expand and connect existing habitat and provide wider environmental benefits. Mapped areas shown in the LNRS benefit from a 15% uplift in the value of any transactions or agreements that a landowner undertakes where Biodiversity Net Gain is required as part of the planning application.
The Planning and Infrastructure Act allows Natural England to develop Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs). These will identify and deliver strategic conservation measures that address specific environmental impacts of development on protected sites or species. The aim is to streamline existing environmental obligations and go further than the current approach of mitigating impacts to improve environmental outcomes while speeding up housing and infrastructure development. In an EDP, Natural England will set out the conservation measures that they will bring forward to materially outweigh the impact of the development on the environmental feature that the EDP covers. The EDP will set out a charging schedule, sufficient to cover the costs of the conservation measures. A developer may request to pay the levy, and if NE accepts this request for a specific development, this payment into the Nature Restoration Fund (NRF) will enable developers to meet the relevant legal obligation associated with the impacts addressed by the EDP.
In certain water catchments like the Solent, pollution from nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus) into rivers, lakes and estuaries is so severe that new housing developments often fail Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) and cannot get planning permission. This is because any additional wastewater from sewage is likely to add to harm to protected sites. To proceed under the current system, plans or projects must mitigate their nutrient impacts to avoid increasing the existing nutrient burden within a catchment. This approach is called “nutrient neutrality” and has been supported by MHCLG through a Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund (LNMF) allocated to a number of catchments across England (source: Local Government Association). In the Solent this scheme is operated by the Solent Nutrient Mitigation Partnership.
The Environment Agency provides Nature Permitting and Coordination (NPC), a service supporting large-scale nature recovery projects across England. It offers a single point of contact to help applicants navigate multiple permits and licences.
This refers to areas outside designated protected sites that are still vital for species survival. For example, birds might feed or rest in farmland or wetlands near a Special Protection Area. These lands support the same populations and help maintain ecological networks. The Solent Waders and Brent Goose Strategy is an example of functionally linked land.
