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5. LEGISLATION IDENTIFIED FOR DESIGNATION
5.1 Criteria for assessing legislation
In order to be a candidate for designation, a piece of legislation must contain functions or powers of the Scottish Ministers and/ or SEPA which are capable of being exercised in a manner which impacts directly on the delivery of our objectives for Scotland's water environment.
Ministers will primarily look to WEWS and CAR to deliver these objectives. However there are other significant legislative regimes which could have an impact on the delivery of our objectives for Scotland's water environment, and we consider it desirable to place an explicit obligation on Ministers and SEPA to secure compliance with the Directive when exercising functions under these other regimes.
By promoting early consideration of the water environment and river basin management planning objectives, we will facilitate an integrated approach and help to ensure that the best environmental option is identified at the outset (for example, the location of a proposed development or the design of sustainable flood management schemes). This approach is in line with our policy approach to the designation of responsible authorities, thus ensuring that all bodies concerned with activities having an impact on the water environment are working together to deliver our WFD goals from the outset.
5.2 Legislation identified for designation
This section of the paper outlines each enactment identified for designation under section 2(8) of the WEWS Act, and provides a summary of the key reasons for the designation.
There are 8 key policy areas where we have identified designations, to facilitate a joined-up approach to securing compliance with the WFD. These are as follows:
- Marine and coastal activities
- Freshwater fisheries
- Rural land management
- Sustainable transport
- Land-use planning
- Sustainable flood management and surface drainage
- Water supply
- Environmental legislation
These matters are discussed in more detail in section 6.
5.3 Revised designation of Responsible Authorities
This exercise has also highlighted some gaps in our designation of responsible authorities made in 2006. These are discussed in more detail in section 6.
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