APPENDIX ONE
THE NATIONAL TRUST COASTAL POLICY
THE TRUST'S
APPROACH
The Trust will take a long-term and strategic
approach to the promotion of its interests in the coastal zone
including the marine environment. The Trust aspires to deliver
Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) within its site management
and its advocacy, at local, regional and national levels. The
Trust's decision-making process will be based on:
— Recognising social, cultural, historic,
economic and environmental assets
— Understanding the processes that
affect those assets and the scales at which they operate
— Delivering legal responsibilities
and duty of care to others
— Assessing the vulnerabilities and
the risks
— Identifying the options
— Involving the local community and
other stakeholders in the decision-making process
— Finding a sustainable way forward
— Ensuring sufficient resources are
available
— Communicating the way forward and
demonstrating the benefits of the agreed approach
— Recording what has been done
— Reviewing in the light of outcomes
The Trust has considerable interests in the
marine environment, including Marine Nature Reserves such as Lundy
and Strangford Lough.
Our coastal land management interests and the
marine environment are connected, eg marine issues that impact
on the coastal zone (eg oil pollution), marine development (eg
offshore wind turbines), and decline of marine species upon which
terrestrial species depend (eg sand eels); likewise land management
issues that impact on the marine environment, eg pollution from
land, erosion, recreation etc.
We will seek new marine legislation which extends
protected areas to the marine environment and supports marine
spatial planning.
OUR MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES
1. The Trust accepts that the coast is dynamic
and changing and will work with the natural processes of coastal
erosion and accretion wherever possible.
2. The Trust will take a long-term view
and will adopt or support flexible management solutions which
can enable, or adapt to, the processes of coastal change.
3. The Trust will plan in the context of
projected sea level rise and will favour coastal realignment wherever
this can reasonably be accommodated.
4. The Trust will only support interference
with natural coastal processes where it believes there is an overriding
benefit to society in social, economic or environmental terms.
This will usually be "buying some time" in order for
a longer-term adaptive solution to be negotiated with other parties.
5. Valued habitats and species of the coastal
zone will be conserved and enhanced as far as practicable, accepting
that they will develop or adapt in response to coastal, oceanic
and climate change. The Trust accepts that some habitats and species
will be lost or replaced through natural processes and we will
attempt substitution of losses elsewhere. The relationship between
terrestrial, intertidal and marine species and ecosystems will
be fundamental to the Trust's management of and policies for the
coastal zone.
6. Valued cultural features in the coastal
zone will be conserved and enhanced as far as practicable, whilst
not necessarily seeking to protect them indefinitely. The Trust
will ensure such features are properly recorded before they are
lost or will consider relocation if that can be justified. The
relationship between landscape and seascape and the full meaning
of the maritime historic environment will be fundamental to the
Trust's management.
7. The Trust will actively promote public
access to the coastal zone, subject to conservation and safety
considerations, in order to provide public enjoyment, recreational
opportunities and to develop understanding of the coast and marine
environments.
8. Coastal management decisions often impact
beyond their immediate location. The Trust will work with other
managers, organisations and communities to share experience and
knowledge, to secure beneficial outcomes, to promote solutions
on the basis of our experience, and to ensure a shared understanding
is achieved.
9. The Trust will only support development
in the coastal zone which has taken proper account of coastal
change and sea level rise as well as environmental, cultural and
landscape considerations. The Trust will contribute to components
of the terrestrial and marine spatial planning systems to ensure
its interests are fully reflected in plans and policies.
10. The Trust will consider the acquisition
of land and property where it is the best option to support these
principles. This can include land on the present coast, land to
be managed as future coast, land in intertidal areas and land
as seabed—as freehold or leasehold.
March 2006
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