5.—(1) Before preparing a marine plan for any marine plan area, the Department must prepare and publish a statement of public participation (an “SPP”).
(2) An SPP is a statement of the policies settled by the Department for or in connection with the involvement of interested persons in the preparation of the proposed marine plan.
(3) An SPP must identify (by means of a map or otherwise) the area for which the marine plan is being prepared.
(4) If the Department proposes to include provision relating to retained functions, the SPP—
(a)must state that that is the case, and
(b)may be published only with the agreement of the Secretary of State.
(5) An SPP must invite the making of representations in accordance with the SPP as to matters to be included in the proposed marine plan.
(6) The Department must publish the SPP in a way calculated to bring it to the attention of interested persons.
(7) The Department must take all reasonable steps to comply with the SPP.
(8) In this paragraph “interested persons” means—
(a)any persons appearing to the Department to be likely to be interested in, or affected by, policies proposed to be included in the marine plan, and
(b)members of the general public.