Cornwall Council is a unitary authority, created on 1 April 2009 by merging Cornwall County Council and the six borough and district councils in Cornwall. In May 2012, the Council adopted its first dedicated Maritime Strategy, which will be used to integrate maritime issues into Council policy and strategy and guiding the development of programmes across its operations. It sits alongside and is linked to the Core Strategy, Local transport Plan, Economic Strategy, Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Management Plan and others and as an adopted strategy it is material consideration for planning matters. Website: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/ and http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=29431