How best to speak for coastal communities and the environment; the report highlights the next steps and actions needed.

The Coastal Partnerships Network (CPN), Coastal Communities Alliance (CCA) and the Local Government Authority Coastal Special Interest Group (LGA Coastal SIG) held the Coastal Challenge Summit with the aim of facilitating cross-sector, multi-regional debate to explore opportunities for collaboration, address parallelism and begin the process of developing 21st century policies and actions for our coastal communities, industries and assets. The opportunity to identify common ground and discuss solutions confirmed the transformative potential of effective knowledge exchange for our shared, or even disparate, coastal challenges.

The value of communicating coastal interests across national, regional and local levels was clearly illustrated. The benefit of consolidating into a connected and united community surrounding coastal management in order to increase opportunity, effectiveness and influence was also strongly substantiated. 70 delegates were present, consisting of representatives from Coastal Partnerships, Coastal Community Teams, Local Enterprise Partnerships and Local Authorities, alongside other coastal stakeholders. Therese Coffey MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, opened the event.

Wayne Hemmingway MBE, founder of socially sustainable design company Hemingway Design, then addressed the group regarding effective and sustainable design for the coast. During the first workshop session, potential for project collaboration, coastal policy for the 2020s, common strategic issues and the defining of a shared vision were discussed. The second session addressed regional issues, with delegates discussing funding, MP engagement, USPs and shared vision on a regional level. Click here to read the full report and conclusions.

No Comment

Comments are closed.