The Green Blue launches resource for Britain's marinas

by Green Blue/Sail-World Cruising on 10 May 2014 The Green Blue, the joint environment initiative of the British Marine Federation (BMF) and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has launched a new resource to assist marinas to understand and comply with environmental legislation.

The Environmental Legal Register for Marinas was developed with assistance from BMF member Blake Lapthorn LLP, a leading commercial and private client law firm.

In the last few years, environmental legislation has been growing in scope and application. Recent budget cuts have resulted in diminished support available to help businesses identify which legislation applies to them and how but the fact remains that all companies have a legal obligation to comply with existing legislation and ignorance of the law is no excuse.

The purpose of a legal register is to record all environmental legislation that may be directly or indirectly applicable to a marina’s operations and activities. It provides the means by which a marina can demonstrate compliance with environmental law. It will also satisfy the requirements of an environmental management system such as ISO 14001 as well as industry specific schemes such as The Yacht Harbour Association Gold Anchor Scheme which requires legal compliance to be demonstrated. This template will be a useful starting point for any UK marina to identify their legal obligations with respect to the environment. With different legislation in different parts of the UK, two versions of the register are available; one covering England and Wales, and one covering Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Dan Reading, Sustainability Officer at The Green Blue said: 'We are pleased to have launched this new register after a number of requests from marinas enquiring about environmental legislation. It goes without saying that all marinas must comply with legislation and it is hoped that the creation of this new resource will make the process easier and straightforward. It has taken several months to compile and refine which will save marina operators a huge amount of time. The Green Blue exists to offer practical advice, help and guidance to anyone using and enjoying inland and coastal waters with the aim of reducing their environmental impact and this register is a perfect example of our work.'

Ben Lippiett, Marina Manager at Dean & Reddyhoff’s Haslar Marina commented: 'We are more conscious than ever that our activities have the least possible impact on the environment, so that future generations will be able to enjoy our natural surroundings and resources as we do today. The Green Blue’s Legal Register will be an invaluable addition to Dean & Reddyhoff’s Environmental Management System to help us achieve this goal. The Legal Register has interpreted each relevant environmental law into plain English so that each marina can easily check whether they are compliant.'

The legal registers were launched at the BMF’s annual Marina Conference held at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel on Wednesday 30 April 2014. The legal registers are available free of charge, for your copy please email dan.reading@thegreenblue.org.uk. Recipients and users of the legal register will then be updated via email of any updates to the register to ensure they are using the most up to date version. www.thegreenblue.org.uk.

For more information please contact Camilla Colborne on: ccolborne@britishmarine.co.uk or +44 (0) 1784 223614.