FULLY CENTRALISED UK MARINE LICENCE SYSTEM LAUNCHED – Fishupdate.com

By systemwyvex - 22nd September 2014

FULLY CENTRALISED UK MARINE LICENCE SYSTEM LAUNCHED Published: 26 May, 2011

IT company Fivium have implemented a centralised IT system that will support the UK marine licensing processes. The new system will enable far greater transparency for users and the public.

Fivium and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have successfully delivered a fully centralised system to handle the processing of new marine licences. The complete end-to-end solution has replaced the multiple licenses, processes and databases which were used to regulate a number of specific activities in the marine area.

Anthony Ashton, Director at Fivium says: The new system is a major improvement. The complexity and duplication which has grown over the years has been completely removed, significantly reducing the numerous processes and bodies an applicant has to deal with.

The new licensing system will accelerate the approval process for marine projects such as offshore wind farms, wave and tidal devices, construction (including renewables and removals) and dredging. The system will also enables users to apply for marine wildlife licences in order to mitigate circumstances where projects impact on local protected wildlife.

The whole process has been completely simplified, continues Anthony Ashton. Applicants are now able to apply, pay and track the progress of their licence applications online as well as use interactive mapping to visually plot the location of their project. In most cases, applicants will only need to apply for one licence whereas previously they may have been required to submit multiple applications.

Over the coming year, the number of licence applications is expected to increase further as investment in marine development continues to grow. The MMO will handle the whole marine licensing process, from initial queries through to the pre-application, application, licence decision and post-consent monitoring stages.

Further enhancements and functionality including harbour orders, public register of licences and a public consultation process will be added, scheduled to be implemented at the end of 2011.