In 2004, Highland Council initiated a pilot project to develop an integrated plan to guide the use and development of the coastal zone in the ‘Two Brooms’ area of North West Scotland; Loch Broom, Little Loch Broom, the Summer Isles and Gruinard Bay.
It aimed to provide a broad overview for the use of the coastal waters over the next 5-10 years where none has existed before. In this respect, it was designed to complement the Wester Ross Local Plan which deals with the terrestrial area.
The coastal plan, like its terrestrial counterpart, will help in the evaluation of development proposals, help to minimise conflicts of interest, and guide investment. It aims to promote a balanced approach: one which can safeguard the area’s core natural assets and sustain or enhance its productivity over the longer term.
This project had both a practical and a research purpose. On a practical level, it filled a key geographic gap in Highland Council’s framework plan coverage for aquaculture. In research terms, it was an exploratory exercise in the design and implementation of integrated (i.e., multi-sectoral) coastal zone plans at local level.
Lessons learned through this initiative will help to inform the approach to the preparation of future coastal plans in the Highland Council area and beyond.
The Atlantic Coast (Wester Ross) Project started in January 2004 and was completed at the end of July 2006. An independent evaluation review of the project to gauge its effectiveness and to record the lessons learned during the project was carried out to coincide with this date.
The evaluation was commissioned to cover the following topics:
- the project design and the extent to which it worked in practice;
- how well (or otherwise) the partnership worked together and why;
- the process by which the plan was developed and the outputs;
- the effectiveness (or otherwise) of public consultation;
- public feedback on the draft plan;
- the educational value of the project for the domestic partners involved, the community in the project area, and the international Coastatlantic partners;
- the perceived cost-effectiveness of the project on the part of the funding bodies;
- the contribution of the project to the wider Coastatlantic project's aims;
- the longer term benefits which are likely to arise from the project;
- the development and use of GIS tools for the project.
In April 2006 the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College UHI was commissioned to carry out this evaluation.