Supply

 

Supplies of marine sand and gravel for use as aggregates in England are of the order of 11million tonnes per annum. This is about 7% of annual extraction of aggregates by quarrying and dredging) but are regionally more significant especially to London and South-East England but marine dredged aggregates are also landed in the North West, South West, East Anglia and Yorkshire/Humberside areas. A little over 2 million tonnes per annum is used for beach replenishment and about 6 to 7 million tonnes goes to the European mainland (mainly Netherlands, France and Belgium) L0291. However, the distance of travel at sea is generally kept as low as possible since it is economically important to keep vessels dredging and unloading fairly continuously, except when essential maintenance work on the vessel is required. In 2009 about 1286 km2 of the seabed was licensed for marine aggregate dredging but only 124 km2 was actually dredged and less than 7 km2 was dredged for over 1 hour 15 minutes during the year M0058.

 

Policy

Overall policy for marine minerals dredging in England is set out in the Marine Minerals Guidance Note 1 (2002) M0047. Marine Licensing Guidance 8 (2011) M0043 explains the new licensing procedures. Defra, on behalf of other government departments and the devolved administrations, published a set of High Level Marine Objectives in 2009 and a draft Marine Policy Statement (MPS) in August 2010. In March 2011 the MPS M0048 was adopted by all UK administrations and published. The MPS will sit above all pre-existing national policy documents; defines the overarching policy objectives and targets for the sustainable use of UK waters; and, therefore, guide the marine planning process and dredging permission decisions.

From a marine aggregate perspective, the draft statement recognizes that ‘…the UK has some of the best marine aggregate resources in the world’, and that ‘…marine sand and gravel makes a crucial contribution to meeting the nations demands for construction aggregate materials’. The policy document also highlights the role marine aggregate supplies play in underpinning wider Government policy priorities, such as climate change adaptation (through beach nourishment), energy (e.g. new nuclear power and renewable energy facilities) and transport (e.g. port & infrastructure development).

In terms of the implications for marine planning, the draft MPS requires marine plan authorities to, as a minimum, make provision for marine aggregate supplies to contribute to the overarching Government objective of ‘securing an adequate and continuing supply to the UK for various uses’ and to take into account ‘…the potential long-term requirement for marine-won sand and gravel, trends in construction activity, likely climate change adaptation strategies and major project development’. The MPS also acknowledges the need to potentially safeguard marine reserves for future extraction.