Stephen Jay

University of Liverpool | UoL · Department of Geography and Planning

Marine spatial planning (MSP) now has a sufficient history for consideration of the way in which MSP processes are developing over time, gaining experience and responding to issues that arise. Rather than setting a study of this kind in the well-established framework of adaptive management, I choose instead a spatial concept that allows planning ac...

The implementation of marine spatial planning (MSP) is bringing together a new body of practitioners who are largely drawn from related professions but have relatively little specific education, training or qualifications in MSP. This is partly due to the newness of the field and the limited opportunities available for personal development. Educati...

This chapter reflects on marine/maritime spatial planning (MSP) from a Land-Sea Interaction (LSI) perspective. It raises questions about the role and limitations of MSP in addressing sustainable development of the world’s oceans as many of the issues it is concerned with are inextricably connected to activity on the land. The chapter starts by iden...

This chapter focuses on the use of scenarios to inform the development of marine spatial plans. An in-depth example of scenario-building for the Celtic Seas is presented, based on a four-way possibility space using the axes of spatial efficiency and cooperation between planning authorities to create four scenarios which were tested in a workshop. T...

It is widely acknowledged that marine spatial planning (MSP) should be responsive to the dynamism of the marine environment and the relatively tenuous human relationship with the sea. However, MSP remains conceptualised within rationalistic terms that limit this potential. This article places MSP within the context of spatial theory that holds grea...

The ecosystem approach (EA) has been widely adopted as an overarching principle of marine spatial planning (MSP). However, this concept is variously understood and not necessarily translated into practice to MSP participants’ satisfaction. Differences focus around deterministic and relativistic views of the ecosystem and the subsequent role of MSP...

This Good Practice Guide is the outcome of a project co-funded by the European Commission (DG Mare) called Transboundary Planning in the European Atlantic (TPEA), which ran from December 2012 to May 2014. The aim of the project was to demonstrate approaches to transboundary maritime spatial planning (MSP) in the European Atlantic region. This is on...

Within the recent uptake of marine planning as a more systematic approach to managing the sea, an appeal is being made to zoning as an appropriate mechanism for the spatial organisation of sea uses. This article explores the notion of marine zoning within the context of the history and long-standing critique of land-use zoning, and considers the ad...

Marine spatial planning is emerging as an integrated, resource management-led approach to governing the use of the seas. Recent initiatives include those of some north European countries, including Germany, which has now completed a plan for its federal offshore territory. In this article, an analysis is presented of this pioneering plan and the co...

Drawing on developments in conceptualizing space within human geography, planning thought has begun to consider the possibilities of relational and socially constructed, as opposed to physically deterministic, understandings of space. This article considers the relevance of this debate to the emerging field of marine planning, as experience of the...

Marine spatial planning is taking on greater international significance as a response to increased perceived threats to the marine environment and the need for more systematic maritime governance. It also expands the horizons of spatial planning and leads to calls for interdisciplinary research to support its development. This special issue brings...

The idea of extending the capture of wind energy beyond the shoreline into the marine environment is not new, having been mooted since at least the 1970s (Musgrove 1978), and pilot projects date back to the 1990s, beginning with Denmark’s Vindeby scheme in 1991. However, in 2002 significant energy production from ‘offshore wind’ became a more promi...

Since 2000, the United Kingdom has enthusiastically adopted marine wind energy as a potentially major source of electricity production and has become the leading nation in terms of output. This is in contrast to its relatively poor attainment of wind energy on land, and raises questions about the reasons for this difference in performance. This art...

Amongst the approaches that have developed to improve environmental protection within the energy sector, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has received relatively little attention. This is despite its potential to overcome some of the shortcomings associated with project-level assessment by intervening at higher levels of energy system plann...

The notion of marine spatial planning (MSP) has recently emerged as a means of improving marine administration. By tracing its origins and investigating the key themes involved in the promotion of MSP, this article shows that it is best understood as an adoption of planning by marine and coastal interests rather than an offshore extension of existi...

The development of offshore wind energy has started to take place surprisingly quickly, especially in North European waters. This has taken the wind energy industry out of the territory of planning systems that usually govern the siting of wind farms on land, and into the world of departmental, sectoral regulation of marine activities. Although thi...

This paper presents the results of research which evaluated the performance of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practice in South Africa in order to develop understanding of how SEA functions within a developing country with a voluntary SEA system. The research applied a combination of methods in a mixed research strategy, including a macro...

Health fears arising from the presence of high-voltage power lines in residential areas have received recent attention in spatial planning. A study of stances taken by planning authorities in England and Wales shows their willingness to give expression to the concerns of local communities through precautionary measures, and the difficulties encount...

Despite its diversification and global spread, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) remains limited mainly to activities characterised by well-defined planning processes, typically within the public sector. This article explores the possible application of SEA within certain private-sector contexts where higher-level strategy-making itself is i...

The widespread experience of environmental impact assessment (EIA) as an anticipatory environmental management tool has generated a considerable debate over the extent to which it is achieving its purposes. This has been measured in terms of EIA ‘effectiveness’, especially as discussion has moved away from issues of procedural implementation, to th...

This paper concerns the relationship between environmental assessment and environmental management systems in the context of recent industrial estate developments. Drawing on environmental statements and interviews with developers, an examination was carried out of the level of good practice in estate design and operation, and the way in which this...

South Africa is regarded as a leading developing country in terms of SEA practice, but no empirical research has been conducted to determine the overall status and extent of practice. This lack of empirical research amongst extensive SEA practice can be considered a major lost opportunity for South Africa, and also for developing countries in gener...

The private sector has given relatively little attention to the emergence of strategic environmental assessment (SEA); even recently privatised utilities, where SEA might be deemed particularly appropriate, and whose activities are likely to fall within the scope of the European Union SEA Directive, have shown less interest than might be expected....

Local planning authorities in England and Wales are turning increasingly to development plan policy as a means of expressing their concerns about the planning implications of high voltage electricity installations. This body of policy provides a well-defined focus for the study of local environmental policy making. This article presents an analysis...

The high-voltage distribution and transmission of electricity are associated with a range of environmental effects that are increasingly contentious and are leading to difficult land-use planning issues. In the UK, local planning authorities have been taking an anticipatory approach to such efforts by the formation of policy in statutory land-use p...

00-44-114 225 3211 Summary The United Kingdom has begun to exploit its massive offshore wind resources through an extensive programme of wind farm development. Projects are receiving authorisation through centralised government controls over marine activities, with the cooperation of the Crown Estate. This is a very different regime to renewables d...