North West Regional Monitoring Programme - Phase 1 Habitats

North West Regional Monitoring Programme, funded by the Environment Agency (EA), was set up in 2008 to provide a coordinated, risk based, monitoring system for the collection and analysis of coastal data to inform sustainable coastal defence management. This project was commissioned to map priority Biodiversity Action Plan habitat extents for the North West Region to inform the program and statutory bodies of coastal habitat change. It is intended that this in turn will inform action plans and strategies for coastal management. This project was commissioned to map the extent of all coastal and terrestrial Priority and supporting habitats within the north west coastal region by analysis of aerial imagery. The principal objectives of the mapping project are to provide Priority BAP extent data for: - Establishing baseline datasets for the North West where they are missing or inadequate - Identification and quantification of regional coastal change - Assessing losses and gains for the Regional Habitat Creation Programme - Identification and strategic consideration of coastal flood and erosion risks - Assisting development of BAPs - Providing contextual information to support AAs for SMPs, Flood and Coastal Defence Strategies and Flood and Coastal Defence schemes