HL Deb 15 January 1985 vol 458 cc959-60WA
Lord Melchett

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the Nature Conservancy Council have detailed scientific criteria for evaluating possible Sites of Special Scientific Interest on their ornithological interest alone; if so, whether they will reproduce in the Official Report a summary of those criteria including any mechanism for assessing the ornithological richness and diversity of specific habitat types such as moorlands, heathlands and woodlands; and whether they will confirim that sites which meet these criteria have been or will be notified as SSSI by the Nature Conservancy Council.

Lord Skelmersdale

A copy of the NCC's explanatory pamphletThe Selection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which sets out the basic criteria for the selection of SSSIs, has been placed in the Library of the House. The criteria for considering sites of ornithological importance are set out below in summary form:

  1. (a) Breeding aggregations and localities of very rare species (well defined localities which have contained 1 per cent. or more of the total British population for five years or more).
  2. (b) Small isolated sea-bird colonies (most are of special international importance because of the breeding bird population involved; notification of smaller or more isolated colonies (those of more than 10 pairs) depends on their geographical location).
  3. (c) Feeding and/or roosting areas of winter migrants and birds of passage (well-established, well defined localities which regularly contain 1 per cent. or more of the total British wintering population).
  4. (d) Variety of species (well defined localities of semi-natural habitats regularly containing more than 65 breeding, or 90 wintering, species).
  5. (e) Breeding communities (an index figure is used based on a points system related to 175 British breeding species. The total points for all breeding species on a site are matched against standard values for different types of habitat such as moorland, heathland and woodland).
  6. (f) Miscellaneous scientific value (eg, well established breeding sites of certain species listed in the First Schedule to the Protection of Birds Act 1954—where not covered by other criteria).

The NCC has a duty to notify all sites where the council is of the opinion that the site meets the selection criteria.