Draft Marine and Coastal Restoration Plan

Closes 19 Oct 2025

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Plan implementation and review

The restoration plan will be iterative and it is intended this first plan will be implemented over a five year period. Active restoration is a relatively new and rapidly developing area, so it will be important that we can adapt the plan, and actions, to meet changing circumstances.

The objectives and actions set out across the five themes vary significantly in terms of resource requirements and how long they might take to implement. Given the interlinkages between the objectives and actions, a number of actions will support and enable each other. 

Scottish Government has an important role to play in setting policy and driving progress. However, marine restoration offers unique opportunities for ‘bottom-up’ conservation and community leadership. The actions outlined in this plan will involve multiple parties. Some will be government-led; some will be led by others, including regulators and restoration projects themselves; and some will require a combination of government and other parties working together. In the development of the plan we have greatly benefitted from discussions with a broad range of stakeholders through the advisory group, and as implementation commences we will explore if this group can have a continued role in the delivery of the plan.

Measures of success

It is important to monitor and evaluate the success of the actions outlined in the plan, not just to ascertain whether they have been completed but also to build a picture of how effective the actions and plan have been in supporting and accelerating restoration. This would include capturing information about the environmental effects and socio-economic impacts of the actions taken and restoration more generally, while acknowledging that some impacts may be indirect or harder to quantify.  

As part of the implementation and review cycle of the plan, we will develop a monitoring framework for the success of the plan, while ensuring that the focus in terms of resources stays firmly on delivering real world action and support for restoration across Scotland.