§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the(a) number, (b) percentage and (c) location of sites of special scientific interest that have been subject to inappropriate development since May 1997. [184864]
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§ Mr. BradshawFor the purposes of this answer, "inappropriate development" is taken to mean development that is causing the unfavourable condition1 of a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). To provide this information since 1997 would involve disproportionate cost. Factors adversely affecting sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are continually updated according to the latest condition assessment completed by English Nature conservation officers. All SSSIs are assessed on a rolling basis at least once every six years. English Nature carried out the first round of condition assessments on the complete SSSI series in England between 1997–2003.
According to the latest condition assessments2 for each unit, 1,052 hectares of SSSI land3, on 55 different SSSIs, were in unfavourable condition due to activities authorised by development or mineral planning permission, excluding peat permissions. This is equivalent to 0.1 per cent. of the total SSSI area in England. The SSSI name, county and unit area adversely affected are detailed in the following table.
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County SSSI Name Unit area (ha)
Avon Severn Estuary 39.18 Bedfordshire Totternhoe Chalk Quarry 1.21 Buckinghamshire Stone 0.13 Cambridgeshire Little Paxton Pits 6.97 Cornwall Gwithian to Mex'co Towans 0.18 Cornwall River Camel Valley and Tributaries
21.58 Cumbria Ash Fell Edge 7.96 Cumbria Dudd on Estuary 4.46 Cumbria River Kent and T ributaries 1.14 Dorset Canford Heath 4.14 Dorset Ebblake Bog 9.95 Dorset Holt and West Moors Heaths 1.24 Dorset Parley Common 0.99 Dorset Povington and Gauge Heaths 9.44 Dorset Slop Bog and Uddens Heath 5.79 Dorset Wareham Meadows 57.11 Durham Fairy Holes Cave 213.6 East Sussex Maplehurst Wood 13.81 East Sussex Rye Harbour 8.2 Essex Purfleet Chalk Pits 4 Essex West Wood, Little Sampford 23.79 Hampshire Avon Valley (Bickton to Christchurch)
155.19 Hampshire Castle Bottom to Yateley Common and Hawley
Commons
77.02 Hampshire Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary
45.24 Hampshire Moorgreen Meadows 10.37 Hampshire Pamber Forest acid Silchester Commons
0.18 Hampshire Portsdown 2.91 Hampshire Short heath Common 6.01 Hereford and Worcester Puxton Marshes 5.18 Isle of Wight Briddllesford Copses 0.91 Isle of Wight Prospect Quarry 4.34 Isle of Wight Whitecliff Bay and Bembridge Ledges
1.51 Kent Darenthwood 4.11 Kent Dungeness Not available
Kent Sandwich Bay to Hacklinge Marshes
120.99 Kent Southborough Pit 1.08 Kent The Swale 61.19 Leicestershire Enderby Warren Quarry 1.71 Norfolk River Wensum 2.84 North Yorkshire Acaster South Ings 23.05 Northamptonshire Bozeat Meadow 2.6 Northamptonshire Cowthick Quarry
1.21 Northamptonshire Higham Ferrers Gravel Pits 3.76 Northamptonshire Southfield Farm Marsh 1.06
County SSSI Name Unit area (ha)
Northumberland The Scroggs 1.37 Shropshire Allscott Settling Ponds 28.16 Shropshire Fenn's, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem & Cadney Mosses
2.02 South Yorkshire Sprotbrough Gorge 12.89 South Yorkshire Wadsley Fossil Forest 0.21 Staffordshire Biddulph's Pool and No Man's Bank
43.73 Staffordshire Chasewater Heaths 1.33 Staffordshire Doxey and Tillington Marshes 1.39 Suffolk Cavenham—Icklingham Heaths 11.62 West Yorkshire Bingley South Bog 4.33 West Yorkshire Nostell Brickyard Quarry 11.44 1 Unfavourable condition comprises the condition categories of unfavourable no change, unfavourable declining, part destroyed and destroyed, according to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee Common Standards. 2 Data extracted on 14 July 2004 3 SSSIs are divided into units. A factor affecting part of a SSSI unit is attributed to the entire unit area for the condition assessment purposes.