Written questions, answers and statements

Sites of Special Scientific Interest

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Question for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

UIN 1653, tabled on 17 October 2019

Question

Caroline Lucas
Green Party
Brighton, Pavilion
Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of sites of special scientific interest that have had no condition assessments undertaken in the last six years; and if she will publish the names of those sites.

Answer

Rebecca Pow
Conservative
Taunton Deane
Commons

Answered on

25 October 2019

56% (2,314) of the 4,125 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have not had an assessment by Natural England (NE) within the past six years. In 2010, NE adopted a different, risk-based approach rather than a fixed six-year cycle. NE continues to support and encourage partners in the work they themselves do to undertake SSSI condition assessments. Information on individual SSSIs, including site names and the dates of assessments, is published on Natural England’s Designated Sites View: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/.

Answered by

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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