History of managing the Tamar Estuaries

The roots of the Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum (TECF) lie in the long history of liaison and consultation between the Ministry of Defence (MoD), local authorities and responsible bodies over the management of their common water body.

In 1992 the MoD considered reducing their jurisdiction and geographical area of responsibility. The public consultation that accompanied this review created great controversy and public opposition, and led to the decision that the alternative civil water space management arrangement would be costly, unwarranted and broadly unwelcome.

It was agreed that the management of the estuaries would be continued using existing powers, but with the increased involvement of other bodies. The resultant informal management structure built on the existing Port of Plymouth Marine Liaison Committee (PPMLC) and led to the formation of TECF as the overall management group.

In 1994 the Tamar Estuaries were adopted as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). By this time TECF was well established to meet the requirements for a SAC single management group under the European Union’s Habitats and Species Directive 92/43/EEC, and UK Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c) Regulations 1994. You can download the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries European Marine Site (EMS) Regulation 33 Advice from the documents table below. At this time a Coastal Officer was employed to assist this process. Subsequent consultation led to the development of the 1997 Tamar Estuary Management Plan, setting out the key guiding principles, management issues and objectives for the estuary, and consolidating the management and advisory group structures. The second Tamar Estuary Management Plan 2001 to 2006 combined these principles with the legal requirements for a scheme of management for the EMS.

TECF has proved a unique, responsive vehicle for coordination, planning and management. Considerable social, economic and environmental achievements continue to be made, assisted by European, national and partner funding. Not all management actions require funding. However many issues do require fund raising and shared costs across public and private sector partners. The efficient delivery of the relevant authorities’ statutory duties, and the pursuit of external resources to allow continued investment in the Estuary, have been possible through the partnerships employment of a Coastal Officer.

Documents

To view these documents you might need to download some software. Visit our downloads page for more information.

Plymouth Sound and Estuaries European Marine Site Regulation 33 Advice - English Nature’s advice given under Regulation 33 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994. File format Adobe Acrobat (pdf) - 189KB