General

When undertaking any restoration scheme there will be a variety of licenses, consents and approvals that will be required. These will include the following:

• Where building or engineering works are proposed planning permission will required and depending on the nature and scale of the proposed works a full Environmental Assessment may be needed;
• Where sites of nature conservation or landscape interests are effected then the appropriate conservation agency should be consulted. In the UK this will mean one of the Countryside Agencies: Countryside Council for Wales http://www.ccw.gov.uk/ and Scottish Natural Heritage http://www.snh.org.uk/. (In England, English Nature http://www.english-nature.org.uk/ and the Countryside Agency http://www.countryside.gov.uk) and the Environment and Heritage Service DoE Northern Ireland (http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/);
• Some protected animals and habitats may require special measures to be adopted when undertaking habitat restoration, re-creation or creation schemes. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 in England provides specific protection for both;
• Proposals affecting tidal land will need to contact the Crown Estate Commission who own most of the foreshore in England http://www.crownestate.co.uk/.

Managed realignment

Other consents and licenses will be required if flood defence or navigation are likely to be affected, as in managed retreat schemes. These include:

• Flood defence committee approval;
• DEFRA approval http://www.defra.gov.uk/ (who may be the funding body);
• Environment Agency http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ (or local Internal Drainage Board where applicable);
• Navigation, where works affect intertidal land below MLWS a license may be required from the Department of Transport http://www.dft.gov.uk/index.htm Ports Division.