Jncc coastal Directories Project Region 11 The Western Approaches

The principal aims of the Directory were to produce “a
comprehensive description of the North Sea coastal margin,
its habitats, species and human activities, as an example to
other North Sea states” (North Sea Task Force 1993), and
thus to help to ensure that terrestrial habitats and species
were considered in the QSR.  In this it succeeded, and the
QSR, also published in 1993, included descriptions of
terrestrial habitats and species in several of the sub-regional
reports, together with comments on the human impacts on
the ecosystems.
The North Sea Task Force was wound up in December
1993, following completion of the North Sea QSR, and its
work is now carried on by a new Assessment and
Monitoring Committee (ASMO), under the 1992 Convention
for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North
East Atlantic (the OSPAR Convention).  This convention
requires that assessments similar to the North Sea QSR be
produced for all the constituent parts of the north-east
Atlantic, and for that area as a whole, by the year 2000.  The
Celtic Seas, including the Irish Sea and the west coast of
Britain, are one of the first areas to be subject to assessment. 
In the UK during the period 1990 - 1993 there was a
considerable upsurge of interest in the principles of coastal
management.  For example, between November 1991 and
February 1992 the House of Commons Environment
Committee examined the issues for England; their report on
Coastal zone protection and planning was published in March
1992 (House of Commons Environment Committee 1992).
This report, together with initiatives at UK and European
levels, encouraged a more integrated, local approach to
management issues.  At the same time, as the work on the
Directory of the North Sea coastal margin proceeded, the
emphasis of the approach changed.  The main aim had been
the collection of information, but gradually the process of
working with people to gather the data threw the spotlight
more on the benefits of a partnership approach and its value
for promoting coastal zone management, with which the
Coastal Directories Project became more directly linked.  
1.1.3  Recent developments
These developments in coastal management fostered
interest in the Coastal Directories Project and increased
demand for information at a regional level, as well as at the
level of whole seaboards (the approach adopted for the
Directory of the North Sea coastal margin).  In 1992, therefore, it
was proposed to produce a West Coast Directory to cover the
remainder of the coast of Great Britain, the Isle of Man and,
by later agreement, Northern Ireland, as well as a series of
regional volumes to cover the whole coast of the UK.
Regions were defined, wherever possible, by the current
local or national government coastal boundaries that most
closely approximated to the limits of major coastal process
cells (see 
section 2.4
), to ensure that pragmatic management
requirements were matched by an ecologically coherent
information base.  Volumes covering seventeen regions have
been or are now being prepared: the areas that they cover
are shown in 
Map 1.1.1
.  Regions 1 - 10 cover the area of the
Directory of the North Sea coastal margin; Regions 11 - 17 deal
with the west coast of the United Kingdom and the Isle of
Man.  These regional volumes provide a more detailed level
of information than the Directory of the North Sea coastal
margin, to help set each region in a national context and
facilitate the preparation of regional plans.  Discussions in
the main steering group (see below) in February 1996
resulted in a decision to make the completion of the regional
volumes the priority, rather than the production of the
overview West Coast Directory.
Whereas work for the Directory of the North Sea coastal
margin was funded principally by the DoE and the
NCC/JNCC, it was decided to seek funding for the
extended project from a consortium of private organisations
and public bodies, including the original steering group
members, as well as coastal local authorities (see page 7).  
In the event more than 200 organisations, from government
departments and oil, water and power companies to nature
conservation organisations, both statutory and voluntary,
have contributed either money or information or both to the
project; further participants are still coming forward.  Those
organisations that contributed money - the funding
consortium - and a number of others comprise the main
steering group, and from this group a smaller number were
identified to form the core steering group (Table 1.1.1).  
Interest in the project has been reflected in the level of
sponsorship that the project has received and in the
commitment shown by members of the steering groups,
which meet regularly.  The main steering group meets
annually for a seminar: so far it has considered the Role of the
Directories in the development of coastal zone management
(January 1994), the Use of electronic storage and retrieval
mechanisms for data publication (February 1995) and The tide
turns for coastal zone management: Coastal Directories users
report back on their experiences (February 1996). In addition
the core steering group also meets at least annually.  
Region 11  Chapter 1  Overview
10
1
2
3
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
17
15
16
16
5°W
5°W
Map 1.1.1
Regions in the series.  Region names are given in 
Table 1.1.2
.

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