Falmouth Harbour construction works, capital dredge and maerl mitigation scheme

Falmouth Harbour Commissioners and Falmouth Docks & Engineering Company applied for three licences to carry out harbour construction works, a dredge disposal and a maerl mitigation project.

The proposed development is located in the Fal and Helford Special Area of Conservation (SAC). During consultation, Natural England advised that the proposal would have a likely significant effect on the designated features of the European site. Therefore, under the requirements of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010, an appropriate assessment was required to assess the proposed development's impact on the conservation objectives of the European site.

Falmouth Friends of the Earth meeting (22 November 2012): We were going to present information on our role in the Falmouth development but due to adverse weather conditions our case manager is no longer able to reach the event. Please find our presentation slides and a fact sheet about the development below.; Presentation slides (PDF 450 KB); Factsheet (PDF 62 KB)

Maerl relocation trial

The applicant will carry out a trial that will inform the original proposal and specifically provide information on the susceptibility of maerl and associated communities to disturbance by dredging.

The programme of works includes:

benthic sampling of proposed trial sites pre-dredging
dredge and re-lay of dead and live maerl communities (five sites of dead maerl and one site to have covering of live maerl on the dead maerl)
benthic sampling of proposed trial sites for up to 6 months after it has been relayed
turbidity monitoring at the surface during dredging (turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates).

Documents relating to this application and decision are available via our online licensing system, application number MLA/2012/00100. This includes a technical overview of the project.

Original application

Appropriate assessment (AA) conclusion

In light of the evidence provided to support the AA, we cannot conclude that there would be no adverse effect on the integrity of the Fal and Helford SAC.

Letter to applicants (PDF 100 KB)
Appropriate assessment by the lead competent authority (the MMO) (PDF 1.9 MB)

The following evidence summary documents our decision-making process.

Evidence summary and related documents: Evidence summary (PDF 86 KB); Legislative and policy context; Key impacts (PDF 219 KB); Evidence submitted in support of the application; Maerl recovery report (PDF 1.9 MB); Maerl surface area report (PDF 514 KB); Falmouth Harbour Commissioners' appropriate assessment (PDF 748 KB); Natural England's response to Falmouth Harbour Commissioners' appropriate assessment roadmap and appropriate assessment decision (PDF 180 KB); Request from Natural England to Falmouth Harbour Commissioners requesting clarification of the decision making process used to reach the conclusion of 'No adverse impact on the integrity of the Fal & Helford SAC' (PDF 98 KB); Summary of consultation with our scientific advisors, statutory and non-statutory consultees and representations received from other bodies and individuals; Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (PDF 160 KB); Natural England (PDF 219 KB); Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee (PDF 180 KB); Environment Agency (PDF 204 KB); English Heritage (PDF 41 KB); Cornwall Council (PDF 56 KB); Maritime and Coastguard Agency (PDF 157 KB); Royal Yachting Association (PDF 79 KB); Trinity House (PDF 77 KB); Representations received from other bodies and individuals (PDF 1.1 MB); Other documents; Socio-economic factors (PDF 179 KB); Appropriate assessment by the lead competent authority (the MMO) (PDF 1.9 MB); View from the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Marine Management Organisation's Board (PDF 14 KB); View from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (PDF 34 KB); Minutes from meeting between Marine Management Organisation, applicant and applicant's agent on 7 July 2011 (PDF 73 KB); MMO letter to applicants December 2011 (PDF 438 KB)

Environmental statement and associated documents: The non-technical summary, environmental statement, appendices and other associated documents are available from the Port of Falmouth Harbour Development Initiative

Contact information

Marine Licensing Team
Marine Management Organisation
Lancaster House
Hampshire Court
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 7YH

Tel: 0300 123 1032
Fax: 0191 376 2681
Email: marine.consents@
marinemanagement.org.uk

Other applications

All other marine licence applications are available from the marine licensing public register

Help with documents

These documents are in the portable document format (PDF) for downloading. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be freely downloaded from www.adobe.com/uk/