MMO introduces new charges
As of today, the UK’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO) will charge for work carried out on marine licence cases once consent for the development has been given.
The change was approved by Ministers and aims to recover costs from industry incurred by the MMO when carrying out work relating to requests to change a marine licence once it has been granted, and monitoring activities being carried out under the licence.
Licence holders will be charged from 1 October if they require any of these services, even if the licence was issues before these powers came into force.
It is estimated the charges will save the government and the taxpayer around £5m over 10 years.
Fees are based on the MMO’s hourly rate (£94) with maximum fees for less complex licence variations.
The changes are being introduced under section 4 of the Public Bodies Act 2011, following a public consultation and impact assessment by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and approval by the First Delegated Legislation Committee in the House of Commons.
Amongst other things, a marine licence may be needed to construct works or deposit or remove any substance or item from/on the sea bed.
A table of fees and further information can be found here.
By Rachael Doyle
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