Our Strategy

The Essex coast is an incredibly important place for wildlife. Its estuaries, mudflats, saltmarshes and coastal habitats provide vital feeding and roosting areas for thousands of overwintering birds, many of which travel from northern Europe to spend the winter on the Essex coast. The importance of these habitats is recognised through a range of international wildlife designations.

Housing Growth

New housing is increasingly across Essex. As Essex continues to grow, more people are visiting the coast to enjoy walking, dog walking, cycling, sailing, paddle sports and spending time in nature. These activities bring many benefits for health and wellbeing, but they can also unintentionally disturb wildlife and damage sensitive habitats if not carefully managed.

How is this being managed?

The Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy (RAMS) helps balance public enjoyment of the coast with the protection of internationally important habitats and bird populations. It provides a coordinated, long-term approach to reducing recreational impacts through a programme of mitigation measure, while ensuring people can continue to experience and enjoy the Essex coast.

What the Evidence Tells Us

Research shows that additional disturbance to overwintering and beach nesting birds will affect the birds’ survival unless mitigation measures are put in place.

Recent visitor surveys show that most visits to the Essex coast are made by local residents who visit regularly throughout the year. Walking and dog walking remain the most common activities, and many visitors are unaware of the impact that disturbance can have on wildlife.

The updated strategy uses this evidence to target measures where they can make the greatest difference, helping to protect birds and habitats while supporting positive visitor experiences.

A Revised Strategy for the Future

Following a comprehensive review in 2025, the Essex Coast RAMS has been updated to reflect current housing growth, new visitor survey information and lessons learned through delivery of the strategy since it was first introduced. The revised strategy came into effect from 1 August 2026.

The review drew on input from Local Planning Authorities, Natural England, Essex County Council, conservation organisations, site managers and specialist consultants, ensuring the strategy remains evidence-led, effective and fit for the future.

RAMS Summary Note:

The revised RAMS 2026 Summary Note explains how the strategy works, the evidence that supports it and how Bird Aware Essex helps protect internationally important coastal habitats and bird populations across Essex.

The Summary note can be viewed here: Essex Coast RAMS Summary Note

Download the RAMS Strategy

See below for downloadable documents including previous versions of our strategy:

Essex Coast RAMS 2026 - Our Current Strategy

Download previous versions of the RAMS Strategy:

Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy (RAMS) 2018 - Previous strategy

Updated RAMS strategy to read

Developer contributions

We fund the mitigation measures using payments from developers. Developers will need to pay a RAMS contribution if their new development is within a ‘Zone of Influence’. Each of the designated Habitats Sites on the Essex coast has a ‘Zone of Influence’, which is the area in which the majority of visitors travel from. New homes built within the Zone of Influence are likely to lead to more people visiting the Designated Habitats Sites with the potential to impact on the birds.

A developer contribution needs to be paid for every net new additional dwelling. The current contribution is £476.00 per new dwelling or qualifying development (from 1st August 2026) , which is updated each year in line with the Retail Price Index.

Alternatives to paying the contribution:

Applicants can provide mitigation themselves. They will need to satisfy the local planning authority and Natural England that their proposed measures will fully mitigate the impact of the development.

In most cases, it is more straightforward for an applicant to make a developer contribution towards implementing the Essex Coast RAMS. If you are planning a development and are considering meeting your mitigation requirements through the Essex Coast RAMS but would like advice on how much developer contribution it would incur, please contact your local planning authority at your earliest convenience.

Additional requirements:

New housing schemes, particularly those located close to a Designated Habitats Sites boundary and large scale development, may need to provide additional mitigation measures. The local planning authority, with advice from Natural England, will consider the mitigation requirements for such development proposals on a case-by-case basis.

The Role of Bird Aware Essex

Bird Aware Essex is the public-facing delivery team for the Essex Coast RAMS. Through education, engagement and practical conservation measures, Bird Aware Essex works to encourage responsible recreation and raise awareness of the wildlife that depends on the Essex coast.

Visitors may see:

Coastal Rangers providing advice and information.
Information boards and interpretation at key access points.
Campaigns promoting responsible dog walking.
Seasonal messages to help protect vulnerable birds.
Surveys and monitoring that help us understand how people use the coast.
Improvements to visitor infrastructure and access management measures where needed.

These activities help reduce disturbance to wildlife while ensuring people can continue to enjoy some of Essex’s most special coastal landscapes.