What progress has been made in achieving greater co-ordination between local and national organisations to improve the quality of the coast…

The Scottish Executive have formed an Advisory Group on the Marine and Coastal strategy which is comprised of representatives from national industry bodies, national stakeholder bodies, environmental NGOs and relevant regulatory agencies. The group will ensure that local interests are nonetheless indirectly engaged with the work of the advisory group through existing networks and local fora.
The Scottish Coastal Forum (SCF) has also been working with the local coastal partnerships around Scotland in order to improve the relationship between national and local levels in Integrated Coastal Zone Management. The Chairman of the Solway Firth Partnership represents the local partnerships on the SCF, and the SCF project officer attends regular meetings with all local coastal partnerships to provide information and guidance.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) manage, on behalf of the Executive, over 250 coastal sites aimed at environmental and species protection in partnership with local organisations and authorities. Through this programme SNH have enabled local authorities to have exclusive statutory powers to set up and manage Local Nature Reserves.