2016-17 Marine bird proposed Special Protection Areas consultation (pSPAs) - consultation closed
The Marine bird proposed Special Protection Areas - proposed designation of 15 coastal and offshore SPAs - consultation closed.
This public consultation on all of the proposals to designate a suite of proposed Special Protection Areas (pSPAs) is now closed.
The aim is to protect some of Britain's most important coastal and offshore waters for marine birds.
Scottish Natural Heritage, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Natural England (NE) carried out the consultation on behalf of Scottish and UK Governments.
The consultation for the following five pSPAs closed at midnight on Tuesday 17th January 2017:
- Outer Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay Complex
- Pentland Firth
- Seas off Foula
- Seas off St Kilda
- Solway Firth
The consultation for the following ten sites closed at midnight on Monday 3rd October 2016:
- Bluemull and Colgrave Sounds
- Coll and Tiree
- East Mainland Coast
- Moray Firth
- North Orkney
- Rum
- Scapa Flow
- Sound of Gigha
- West Coast of the Outer Hebrides
- Ythan Estuary, Sands of Forvie and Meikle Loch.
SNH, JNCC and NE are working to complete the consultation reports on the 15 proposed SPAs in Scottish inshore (including the Solway Firth pSPA) and offshore waters for final submission to Government in February 2018.
The revised timetable reflects the number and detail of responses received during the two public consultations.
Find out more
Identification of important marine bird sites
pSPA supporting data and boundaries dataset
Marine Bird SPA Consultation Overview
