Marine Bill
The Marine Bill will ensure clean healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas, by putting in place better systems for delivering sustainable development of marine and coastal environment.
Government Response to pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation on the draft Marine Bill
The draft Marine Bill was published, on 3 April 2008, for public consultation. It was also subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament over the summer. This involved thorough discussion by a Joint Committee of made up from members of both the House of Lords and House of Commons, and also gave people and organisations with an interest in the Bill the opportunity to give their views to the Committee.
At the same time, the coastal access provisions of the Bill were examined by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA).
The Joint Committee published its Report and recommendations on 30 July 2008. The EFRA Committee published its Report on 22 July 2008.
While the pre-legislative scrutiny was taking place, a public consultation was also carried out.
The Government published its response to the pre-legislative scrutiny and the public consultation in its Command paper “Taking Forward the Marine Bill: The Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny and public consultation” on 25 September.
A summary of responses to the public consultation was published on this website on the same day.
See our consultations section for copies of the draft Bill, our Policy Document and the Impact Assessment.
See "what does this mean for me?" for summary factsheets, and "Protecting our marine environment through the Marine Bill" [PDF] (1.42 MB).
Latest news
Marine Bill sections:
- Key areas covered by the Marine Bill
Find out more about the key areas of interest covered in the Marine Bill. - What does this mean for me?
Factsheets summarising what the Bill will mean for individuals, industry and environmental groups. - What happens next?
Find out what happens to the bill following this consultation. - Key documents
Find the latest Marine Bill Newsletter, and important historical documents related to the Marine Bill. - Research projects
More information on the evidence base used to draft the Marine Bill. - How did we get here?
Historical overview of the Marine Bill process so far.
Contact us
Please email MarineBillTeam@defra.gsi.gov.uk to be added to our stakeholder list for future mailings about the Marine Bill and public consultation activities, or to provide any feedback on issues relating to the Marine Bill.
Page last modified: 25 September 2008