Acts authorised by joint management agreements
2.25 Acts authorised by joint management agreements
This clause applies to the defence under section 2.8(1)(n) of the Act relating to acts authorised by a joint management agreement entered into in accordance with the regulations between the Minister and one or more public authorities for the management or control of any action that is jeopardising the survival of a threatened species or threatened ecological community.
The Minister may enter into such a joint management agreement. Other persons may also be parties to a joint management agreement.
The parties to a joint management agreement may amend the agreement by a further joint management agreement.
A joint management agreement is to contain terms, binding on all parties, that—
identify the threatened species or threatened ecological community to which the agreement applies, and
identify the action that it manages, controls, regulates or restricts, and
state its objective (for example, maintenance of a habitat in a state that will contribute to the long-term survival of the species or ecological community), and
state the way in which the objective is to be achieved, and
specify the measures by which progress towards achieving the objective is to be assessed, and
identify the parties who are responsible for the implementation of those measures.
A joint management agreement entered into with a public authority is void to the extent to which it fetters any discretion of the public authority in the granting or refusal of a planning approval (within the meaning of Part 6 of the Act) or an approval under the Local Government Act 1993.
A joint management agreement under this clause and a joint management agreement under Division 8 of Part 7A of the Fisheries Management Act 1994 may be combined into a single document if both agreements deal with the same subject-matter.
The Minister must, before entering into a joint management agreement—
give a copy of the draft agreement to the Threatened Species Scientific Committee for review, and
give the public an opportunity to make submissions on the draft agreement.
Division 1 of Part 9 of the Act applies to the draft agreement in the same way as it applies to a public consultation document under that Division.
Before a joint management agreement is entered into, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee must review the draft joint management agreement and provide the Minister with comments on the review by the date specified for the making of public submissions on the draft agreement.
The Minister must consider all written submissions received by the Minister on or before the date specified for the making of public submissions about the draft agreement.
The Minister may, with the consent of the other parties to the agreement, amend the draft joint management agreement to take into account any of those submissions and any comments made by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee about the draft agreement.
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee must also—
conduct an annual review of the performance of all parties to a joint management agreement, and
advise the Minister of any deficiencies in implementation of any joint management agreement by any party to it.
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee’s advice on the annual review of joint management agreements is to be set out in the annual report of the Environment Agency Head to Parliament or is to be available for public inspection at a place specified in that annual report.
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