Highly Protected Marine Areas

(asked on 9th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the deadline for the publication of the Benyon Report into Highly Protected Marine Areas as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 17th June 2020

We welcome the publication of the review into Highly Protected Marine Areas (HMPAs), which was published on 8 June 2020 and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/highly-protected-marine-areas-hpmas-review-2019. I am grateful to Richard Benyon and the advisory panel for their work. In the coming weeks, we will consider Richard Benyon’s report and issue a formal response to him, recognising our continued priority to support the cross-Government response to Covid-19. From there on, we have an opportunity to develop a programme of work to bring forward highly protected areas for the first time in English waters. The Review’s publication marks an exciting moment for ocean conservation in English waters and complements our leadership at the global level. We would of course consult widely with the public and stakeholders before any decision to designate an HPMA.

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