HC Deb 18 March 1985 vol 75 cc337-8W
Dr. Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if the sites of special scientific interest guidance criteria require the Nature Conservancy Council to notify as a site of special scientific interest rough grazing and heather moorland which regularly supports 1 per cent. or more of the British breeding population of a species of bird listed upon both schedule 1 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Annex one of EC directive 79/4092.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

The Nature Conservancy Council would normally consider it appropriate to notify as sites of special scientific interest well defined localities which have contained 1 per cent. or more of the total British breeding population of any native British species for 5 years or more. Sites with rare species or very small populations do not normally qualify for such designation unless the habitat in which they are found is also scarce within the region concerned.

The Nature Conservancy Council's explanatory pamphlet "The Selection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest" gives further details of the selection criteria, and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Dr Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many requests for section 29 orders under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 have been made by the Nature Conservancy Council; how many have been refused and why; and whether damage or loss of sites of special scientific interest has occurred as a result.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

The Nature Conservancy Council has to date requested 17 orders throughout Great Britain. 14 have been made (10 in England, two in Scotland and two in Wales). In the remaining three cases I was not fully satisfied that the site met the criteria set out in section 29 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There has been no further damage to these sites following the decision that an order should not be made. In the case of one of the three sites, agreement has now been reached with the owner. The other two sites are now fully protected under section 28 of the 1981 Act.