Guidance

A coastal concordat for England

Setting out how regulatory bodies can co-ordinate the separate processes for coastal development consents in England.

• From: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Department for Transport, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities , Environment Agency, Marine Management Organisation and Natural England
• Published: 11 November 2013
• Last updated: 19 October 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 19 October 2026

     We've added South Tyneside Council and Southend-on-Sea City Council to the list of local authorities who are adopters of the coastal concordat.

  2. 23 June 2021

     Added Council of the Isles of Scilly and Torbay Council to the list of local authorities that have adopted the Coastal Concordat.

  3. 30 October 2020

     Added: Great Yarmouth Borough Council, South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council to the list of councils that have adopted the Coastal Concordat.

  4. 15 September 2020

     Added Arun District Council to the list of councils that have adopted the Coastal Concordat.

  5. 22 July 2020

     Added Cheshire West and Chester Council, Forest of Dean District Council and Lancaster City Council to the list of councils that have adopted the Coastal Concordat.

  6. 10 March 2020

     Added Boston Borough Council to the list of councils that have adopted the Coastal Concordat.

  7. 29 January 2020

     Minor amendments to section 3.3 of main document (removed reference to deferring), indicative times for MMO regulations in implementation document and clarified details in the how to sign up section.

  8. 17 December 2019

     Documents updated following a review.

  9. 1 October 2014

     List of adopters and implementation plan updated (October 2014).

  10. 13 February 2014

      Updated list of early adopters of the coastal concordat

  11. 29 January 2014

      The list of local authorities who have expressed an interest to be ‘early adopters’ of the coastal concordat has been updated.

  12. 18 November 2013

      Added the implementation update document.

  13. 12 November 2013

      Added list of interested early adopters for the coastal concordat

  14. 11 November 2013

      First published.

Documents

A coastal concordat for England (revised: December 2019)

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Local authorities who are adopters of the coastal concordat (updated: October 2026)

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A coastal concordat for England: implementation document (updated: December 2019)

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Details

The coastal concordat sets out the separate processes for consenting coastal developments in England. This revised version replaces the original published on 11 November 2013. It supports decision-making between Local Authorities and those regulators who work in the marine area.

The government’s 25 Year Environment Plan aims for all Local Authorities with a coastal interest to adopt the concordat by 2021. Working under the concordat is currently a voluntary arrangement.

The concordat approach can be applied to any applications for individual projects, if they:

• span the intertidal area in estuaries and on the coast
• require multiple consents including both a marine licence and a planning permission from the local planning authority

It will not apply to projects that:

• are solely terrestrial
• already have co-ordination mechanisms in place such as National Significant Infrastructure projects

How to sign up

An officer acting on behalf of the Local Authority wishing to sign up can write a letter to the Defra Licensing Team at marine.licensing@defra.gov.uk. The letter should confirm that the Coastal Concordat has been adopted and that its principles will be applied.