Regulation 2 Interpretation

In these Regulations—

• “the 2021 Act” means the Environment Act 2021;

• “England” includes—

  1. (a)

     the English inshore region, and

  2. (b)

     the English offshore region,

within the meaning of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009^f1;

• “the nature conservation bodies” means Natural England^f2 and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee^f3;

• “protected feature” means a marine habitat or type of marine habitat, a species or assemblage of species of marine flora or fauna or a feature or assemblage of geological or geomorphological interest specified in the second column of the Schedule in relation to a relevant marine protected area;

• “relevant marine protected area” (or “relevant MPA”) means—

  1. (a)

     a marine conservation zone (“MCZ”) designated by an order made under section 116(1) of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (“MCZ designation order”) specified in the first column of the Schedule;

  2. (b)

     a special area of conservation (“SAC”) within the meaning of regulation 3(1) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017^f4 specified in the first column of the Schedule;

  3. (c)

     a special protection area (“SPA”) classified—

     1. (i)

        pursuant to Article 4(1) or (2) of Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds^f5 or Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conservation of wild birds^f6,

     2. (ii)

        under regulation 15 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, or

     3. (iii)

        under regulation 12 of the Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017^f7,

  specified in the first column of the Schedule;

  but does not include any part of an MCZ, SAC or SPA which is situated outside England.