§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the operation of section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in relation to statutory undertakers who own or carry out operations upon sites of special scientific interest.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe Nature Conservancy Council has a duty under the section to notify all owners and occupiers, including where applicable statutory undertakers, of sites of special scientific interest and to specify the features of interest and any operations the council considers likely to damage them. Owners and occupiers then have a duty to give notice to the NCC of proposals to carry out any specified operations.
The NCC already informs the major statutory undertakers of the location of sites of special scientific interest and will be discussing with them the most appropriate means of avoiding damage from statutory undertakers' operations on land which they do not own or occupy.