Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan

The Pilot Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Marine Spatial Plan (the Plan) was developed jointly by Marine Scotland, Orkney Islands Council and Highland Council as part of a working group. It was a successful initiative, winning a prestigious award at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning 2016 and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence 2017.

The Plan set out an integrated planning policy framework to guide marine development, activities and management decisions. As a non-statutory Plan, it complemented and supported existing ambitions and responsibilities.

The working group delivered this pilot to put in place a planning policy framework in advance of statutory regional marine planning. Through the process of producing this pilot marine spatial plan there were many lessons learned. These have been published separately in a Lessons Learned Report and they informed the preparation of the Orkney Islands Regional Marine Plan.

The final pilot Plan was used by the Marine Directorate Licensing Operations Team (MD-LOT) as a material consideration in the determination of marine licensing and section 36 consent applications within the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters area. Highland Council and Orkney Islands Council adopted the final pilot Plan as non-statutory planning guidance, acknowledging the status of the Plan as a material consideration in the determination of relevant planning applications. Orkney Islands Council also approved the Plan as a material consideration in the determination of works licence applications.

The Plan is available on the Scottish Government website via the 'Related Sites' section of this page.