The Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources is considering the proposal from the Icelandic National Planning Agency and plans to submit a proposal to the parliamentary resolution on national planning policy to the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, during the current parliamentary session. National planning policy shall enter into force once it has been adopted by the parliamentary resolution.

Additions to existing marine and coastal planning policies

Chapter 4 of the existing National Planning Policy 2015–2026 defines the policy for the planning of maritime and coastal areas and that policy is the basis for the creation of coastal area planning. The National Planning proposal that has now been submitted to the Minister includes, in addition to new chapters on climate, landscape and public health, additions to the policy for the planning of maritime and coastal areas. The purpose of the changes is, on the one hand, to strengthen the focus of the policy on planning matters in maritime and coastal areas with regard to the provisions of Act No. 88/2018 on the planning of maritime and coastal areas and on the other hand to address which defined areas should be the areas for the development of coastal area planning.

Data portal and map web browsing of published licenses

The proposal provides for the National Planning Agency to establish a database and a map web-portal on published permits for construction and other activities in maritime and coastal areas. The foundation for this project was laid in the Law on the Planning of the Sea and Coastal Areas, but permit holders are required by the law to send information on all published permits in maritime and coastal areas to the National Planning Agency. The goal is for the web-portal to be operational in 2022 and be available on hafskipulag.is. It is also considered that it will be part of a new consultation and information portal on planning and construction, which is also discussed in the proposal.

Climate change impacts

In line with the objectives of the Marine and Coastal Planning Act, the proposal sets out a policy for coastal planning to take into account the best available information on the impact of climate change, such as changes in the sea level and disturbances in habitats. This addition to the Marine and Coastal Planning policy is a close extension of the second national climate planning proposal, which aims, among other objectives, to promote carbon neutrality in the planning of the regions, transport and land use, and to strengthen the resilience of the regions and communities to the consequences of climate change.

Coastal planning - demarcation of new areas

One purpose of the strategy for marine and coastal areas is to determine which areas will be the areas for the development of coastal planning. In the proposal from the Icelandic National Planning Agency it is proposed that coastal planning in Eyjafjörður and Skjálfandur will be carried out, but the request has been received from the Eyjafjörður Regional Planning Committee and the Norðurþing. The situation in both these areas is considered to require integration of different exploitation and conservation considerations, but there are currently various activities, as well as plans for new activities and resource utilization.

According to the planning law, the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources decides jointly with the Ministers of Fisheries, Energy, Tourism and Transport on which specific areas to develop a coastal zone plan. The ministers’ position on the development of a coastal zone plan in Eyjafjörður is already known. However, they have not taken a position on the proposal for a coastal zone plan in Skjálfandur, but it is expected that their conclusion will be known before the proposal for a national planning policy is submitted to parliament.

The national plan proposal also suggests that the National Planning Agency should make a comprehensive assessment at national level of the need for coastal zone planning in demarcated areas and put forward a proposal for prioritizing areas for the next review of national planning policy.

The drafting of the proposal

The drafting of the national planning proposal has been conducted in active consultation with local authorities and their associations, public institutions and associations, and the public has had the opportunity to make suggestions at various stages of the work. The draft proposal, which has now been submitted to the minister, was being presented for eight weeks from November 2020 until January 2021, and the Icelandic National Planning Agency received a fifth of the comments that were taken into account in the final drafting of the proposal. Further information on the national planning process, data from the process and submitted comments can be found on the website of the National Planning Policy.