HL Deb 12 January 1994 vol 551 cc30-1WA
Lord Pearson of Rannoch

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In view of the letter of 23rd November to them from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) in which SNH states that it is unwilling and unable, certainly in the timescale envisaged by the directive, to handle either the several hundred new Scottish SSSIs envisaged by the Habitats Directive or the powers of compulsory purchase which may be necessary to enforce them, (a) whether any areas of land may have been designated by June 1994 as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) which will not have been confirmed as SSSIs because they will not, for example, have been considered by the Advisory Committee, (b) whether the status of SAC would therefore be removed from the sites in question, and (c) whether they will invoke the principle of subsidiarity to escape from the terms of the directive.

Lord Fraser of Carmyllie

Her Majesty's Government value the advice of Scottish Natural Heritage. The letter to which the noble Lord refers does not, however, represent government policy.

The Government are not obliged to propose a list of potential Special Areas of Conservation to the European Commission until June 1995. The programme of formal designation of SACs will begin sometime after that date and should be completed by 2004.

The Government will ensure that any terrestrial sites will have been notified as SSSIs before designation as SACs. The introduction of the new SAC designation will not affect the operation of Section 12 of the Natural Heritage (Scotland) Act 1991. Representations made to SNH by owners and occupiers about notification of land as SSSI will continue to be referred to the SSSI Review Committee. It is the Government's policy that proposed terrestrial SACs submitted to the European Commission by 1995 will be notified SSSIs, almost all of which will have been notified already.

The Government and the nature conservation agencies will continue to seek the co-operation of owners and occupiers through voluntary management agreements. Powers of compulsory purchase will be retained as an option of last resort but, as set out in the consultation paper issued by Environment Departments on 4th October, the Government envisage that measures available for securing voluntary management agreements should ensure that compulsory purchase will be seldom, if ever, used. The consultation paper proposed a wide range of other measures to protect the conservation interest of SACs, and the Government are currently considering responses to the paper.

The UK has a contribution to make in safeguarding Europe's natural heritage, which is the principal objective of the directive. The UK welcomed the adoption of the directive and is committed to its effective implementation.