Hansard

Marine planning zones define the boundaries of designated planning authorities’ responsibilities for planning controls of marine fish and shellfish farms in Scottish waters. The purpose of the order is to update existing marine planning zone boundaries to deliver on principles that were already established in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.

In 2007, the definition of “development” in the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 was amended to include fish and shellfish farming out to 12 nautical miles, meaning that any proposed marine fish or shellfish farm that is located between 0 and 12 nautical miles requires planning permission from a designated local planning authority. However, the Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Order 2007 limited marine planning zone boundaries out to 3 nautical miles, primarily as a result of the extent of the powers that were used at the time to designate marine planning zones. In practice, that has resulted in a legislative gap, as there is no designated planning authority to which a developer may submit an application for a farm that is located between 3 and 12 nautical miles from the coast.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest from aquaculture businesses to move further from the coast into more dynamic regions of the marine environment, with developments in technology making farms in those regions feasible. Indeed, they have already allowed businesses to locate farms outside sheltered lochs in more exposed locations.