Search Legislation

Advanced Search

Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

Section 55: Delegation of functions relating to marine plans

175.This section enables a marine plan authority to direct another public body to carry out some of its marine planning functions, by giving it a direction. The Government’s intention is that this power will be used to delegate functions of the Secretary of State to the Marine Management Organisation.

176.Subsection (3) requires the marine plan authority to obtain the public body’s consent before making the direction. Since public bodies may generally only do things that they have specific powers to do, subsection (4) compels the public body to comply with the direction and states that it is taken to have any necessary powers to carry out the functions delegated to it.

177.Subsections (5) to (7) set out which functions may be delegated in this way. A marine plan authority may delegate any of the functions in Chapter 2 (apart from the “excepted functions”) and the duty to monitor and report on the effects and effectiveness of marine plans in section 61. The functions in Chapter 2 which may be delegated include:

  • preparing a marine plan for a marine plan area in accordance with the procedure in Schedule 6 (section 51);

  • amending a marine plan (section 52); and

  • keeping relevant matters under review (section 54).

178.The “excepted functions” which must be carried out by the marine plan authority and may not be delegated are:

  • adopting a marine plan (paragraph 15 of Schedule 6); and

  • withdrawing a marine plan, or withdrawing agreement to a marine plan (section 53).

179.In addition, functions of the Secretary of State in his own capacity may not be delegated by a direction under this section (see subsection (7)). These functions include agreeing to the publication of statements of public participation and consultation drafts by the devolved administrations, and agreeing, or withdrawing agreement, to the adoption of their final marine plans.

Back to top

Options/Help

Print Options

Close

Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

Close

More Resources

Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:

  • the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
  • lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
  • confers power and blanket amendment details
  • all formats of all associated documents
  • correction slips
  • links to related legislation and further information resources
Close

Impact Assessments

Impact Assessments generally accompany all UK Government interventions of a regulatory nature that affect the private sector, civil society organisations and public services. They apply regardless of whether the regulation originates from a domestic or international source and can accompany primary (Acts etc) and secondary legislation (SIs). An Impact Assessment allows those with an interest in the policy area to understand:

  • Why the government is proposing to intervene;
  • The main options the government is considering, and which one is preferred;
  • How and to what extent new policies may impact on them; and,
  • The estimated costs and benefits of proposed measures.