§ Mr. Majorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Huntingdonshire of 11 November, Official Report, c. 225, he will list the preliminary selections of additional sites in the United Kingdom identified by the Nature Conservancy Council as meeting the criteria for wetlands of international importance prepared at the Cagliari conference; and if he will make a statement as to the progress that has been made towards listing such sites under the Ramsar convention.
§ Mr. KingThe Nature Conservancy Council has identified the total number of sites in the United Kingdom which it considers to be eligible for designation under the Ramsar convention in the light of the criteria prepared at the Cagliari conference. Designation under the convention obliges protection under domestic legislation, but not all sites on the following list are currently so protected.
The following sites meet the criteria in use before the Cagliari conference but subsumed into the criteria prepared there:
- Alt Estuary, Merseyside
- Blackwater Flats and Marshes, Essex
- Chichester and Langstone Harbours, West Sussex and Hampshire
- Dee Estuary, Merseyside, Cheshire and Clwyd
- Derwent Ings, North Yorkshire and Humberside
- Duddon Estuary, Cumbria
- Exe Estuary, Devon
- Foulness and Maplin Sands, Essex
- Hamford Water, Essex
- Holborn Moss, Northumberland
- Humber Flats and Marshes, Humberside
- Leigh Marsh, Essex
- Martin Mere, Lancashire
- Medway Estuary, Kent
- Mersey Estuary, Cheshire and Merseyside
- Morecambe Bay, Lancashire and Cumbria
- Nene Washes, Cambridgeshire
- New Grounds, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
- Orwell Estuary, Suffolk
- Pagham Harbour, Sussex
- Poole Harbour, Dorset
- Ribble Estuary, Lancashire
- Severn Estuary, Gloucestershire, Avon, Somerset, Gwent and South Glamorgan
- Somerset Levels
101 - South Thames Marshes, Kent
- Stour Estuary, Suffolk and Essex
- The Swale, Kent
- Taw/Torridge Estuary, Devon
- Teesmouth, Durham and Cleveland
- Upper Solway Flats and Marshes, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway
- The Wash, Norfolk and Lincolnshire
Scotland
- Beauly Firth, Highland
- Caithness Lochs, Highland
- Cameron Reservoir, Fife
- Carsebreck Lochs, Tayside
- Gromarty Firty, Highland
- Dee Valley and Loch of Skene, Grampian
- Lower Dornoch Firth, Highland
- Drummond Pond, Tayside
- Dupplin Lochs, Tayside
- East Flanders Moss, Central
- Eden Estuary, Fife
- Endrick Mouth, Loch Lomond, Strathclyde
- Fala Flow, Lothian
- Firth of Forth, Fife and Lothian
- Firth of Tay, Tayside and Fife
- Gladhouse Reservoir, Lothian
- Greenlaw Moor and Rule Moss, Borders
- Hoselaw Loch, Borders
- Inner Clyde, Strathclyde
- Islay, Strathclyde
- Loch Eye, Highland
- Lochs Hallan and Kilpheder, South Uist, Western Isles
- Lochs of Harray, Stenness and Skaill, Orkney
- Loch Inch and Marshes, Highland
- Loch Ken and Dee Marshes, Dumfries and Galloway
- Loch of Kinnordy, Tayside
- Lochyloch and Cleuch Reservoirs, Strathclyde
- Loch Mahaick, Central
- Forfar Lochs: Lochs Forfar, Rescibue and Balgavies, Tayside
- Loch Shiel and Kentra Moss, Highland
- Loch Spynie, Grampion
- Loch of Strathbeg, Grampion
- Machrihanish and Tangy Loch, Strathclyde
- Montrose Basin, Tayside
- Moray Firth, Highland and Grampian
- Rhunshsorine, Strathclyde
- Tay-Isla Valley, Tayside
- Tentsmuir Point and Abertay Sands, Tayside
- Tiree and Coll Islands, Strathclyde
- Westwater and Baddingsgill Reservoirs, Borders
- White Loch (Lochinch), Dumfries and Galloway
- Ythan Estuary, Grampian
Wales
- Burry Inlet, Dyfed and West Glamorgan
- Carmarthen Bay, Dyfed
- Conwyn Bay, Gwynedd
- "Three Rivers", Taf, Tywl and Gwendraeth Estuaries, Dyfed
Northern Ireland
- Grange Area, River Foyle, Tyrone
- Lough Foyle, County Londonderry
- Lower Lough Macnean and Lower Lough Erne, Fermanagh
- Strangford Lough, County Down
- The following sites meet the criteria first added at the Cagliari conference:
- Chesil Beach and the Fleet, Dorset
- Cranesmoor, Hampshire
- Esthwaite Water, Cumbria
- Irthinghead Mires, Cumbria and Northumberland
- Malham Tarn and surrounding area, North Yorkshire
- Moor House, Cumbria
- Redgrave—South Lopham Fen, Norfolk and Suffolk
- Roydon Common, Norfolk
- Scarning Fen, Norfolk
- Surlingham Marshes, Wheatfen and Rockland Broads, Norfolk
Scotland
- Blar Nam Faoileag, Highland
102 - Durness Lochs and Streams, Highland
- Howmore Estuary, Western Isles
- Lock An Duin, Western Isles
- Lock Fleet, Highland
- Lock Morar, Highland
- North Roe, Shetlands
- Strathy Bogs, Highland
Wales
- Bosherston Lake, Dyfedd
- Llangorse Lake, Powys
- Llyn Idwall, Gwynedd
- Llyn Tegid, Gwynedd
Of these sites, my Department has completed consultation on designation on nine and await the outcome of further consultations by the Nature Conservancy Council. Consultation on eight more of them will be commenced as soon as the requisite information has been assembled.