Sites of Special Scientific Interest

HC Deb 22 February 1994 vol 238 cc107-8W

Mr. Chris Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was(a) the number and (b) the total cost in 1992–93 of management agreements between English Nature and owners and occupiers of sites of special scientific interest to (i) compensate for profit forgone and (ii) facilitate positive conservation management.

Mr. Atkins

There were 1,840 such management agreements under section 15 of the Countryside Act 1968 at 31 March 1993, made up as follows:

	Number
Agreements with compensatory payments—almost all of these also provided for positive conservation management. Payments were mainly on the basis of profit foregone, but a few agreements provided for lump sum payments	1,510
Agreements where the payments were for positive conservation management—including 120 agreements under the pilot wildlife enhancement scheme	330
Total	1,840

Payments under these agreements in 1992–93 totalled £7.5 million, of which £500,000 related to agreements for positive conservation. Information on nature reserve agreements has been excluded from the figures.