Assessments of the environmental effects

The FRB spans the Lower Forth Estuary, within the Mean High-Water Springs (MHWS), and as such a Marine Licence is required under Part 4 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and Part 4 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. A five-year Marine Licence application was submitted and approved on 30th September 2021 (MS-00009380). The application, as submitted, included a Habitats Regulation Appraisal (HRA) of all projects scheduled to be undertaken on the FRB within the MHWS over the five year period. The list of schemes approved in Marine Licence (MS-00009380) include the projects being considered within this RoD. The HRA Screening concluded that the proposed works had the potential to result in Likely Significant Effects (LSE) to some of the qualifying features of the Firth of Forth SPA and Ramsar Site and Forth Islands SPA, as such an Appropriate Assessment was undertaken. The Appropriate Assessment concluded that with mitigation measures implemented there will be no adverse effects on site integrity for any of the qualifying features of the Firth of Forth SPA and Ramsar sites or for the Forth Islands SPA for the five-year duration. As such, a further HRA is not required.

A new marine licence application has been submitted to MD which includes an updated AA covering all works scheduled to be carried out within the 2026/2027 FY. The AA concluded with mitigation measures being implemented there will be no adverse effects on site integrity for any qualifying features of the European Site considered within the AA.

As detailed in the Description of Main Environmental Impacts and Proposed Mitigation section, there are no significant effects anticipated on any environmental receptors as a result of the proposed works.