Marine Nature Reserve
Historic sea designation, now superseded
A Marine Nature Reserve is a historic conservation designation covering sea, seabed and marine wildlife, not land or buildings. Only three were ever created in the UK, and each has since been reclassified as a Marine Conservation Zone. Scotland never had one; its equivalent is the Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area.
What This Means
Nothing about this designation reaches the house. It covered activities in the water, such as fishing, dredging and anchoring, never work on dry land. Because the three sites are now Marine Conservation Zones, the live controls are the zone's, not the reserve's. Alterations, extensions and decoration need no consent on account of it. It matters only if the property includes a slipway, jetty, mooring or sea wall. Structures in or over the water need a marine licence, whatever the sea beside them is called. This does not normally affect mortgage approval, buildings insurance or resale.
Practical Advice
- Ask your conveyancer to confirm whether the coast beside this property is now a Marine Conservation Zone.
- Ask your conveyancer to confirm the title and garden stop above the low water mark.
- Apply for a marine licence before repairing any structure over the water: to the Marine Management Organisation in England, Natural Resources Wales in Wales, or DAERA in Northern Ireland.
- Ask your conveyancer for any byelaws restricting boating, diving, fishing or anchoring off this shore.
Key Points
- Lundy in the Bristol Channel was designated in 1986, Skomer off Pembrokeshire in 1990, and Strangford Lough in County Down in 1995.
- Each was reclassified as a Marine Conservation Zone: Lundy in January 2010, Strangford Lough in September 2013, and Skomer in December 2014.
Additional Information
A coastal search or an old map may still return the reserve name. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee's marine protected area map shows what covers the water today. The site record there carries the current Marine Conservation Zone name and boundary.