We Asked, You Said, We Did

Natural England consulted with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Cotswold Water Park Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 7 January 2021 and the proposal to de-notify parts of the previously notified Cotswold Water Park SSSI that are not considered to be of special interest.

Consultations closed on 7 June 2021.

Following consideration of representations and objections at its meeting on 15 September and resumed meeting of 29 September 2021, the Board of Natural England approved the confirmation of the notification of the Cotswold Water Park SSSI with modifications to the description of the special interest (area figure amendment and the addition of little grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis  to the citation), boundary map and Views about Management (VAM).

No representations or objections were received to the proposal dated 7 January 2021 to remove the SSSI notification (known as ‘de-notification’) from parts of the previously notified Cotswold Water Park SSSI that are not considered to be of special interest.  The proposed denotification has been confirmed without modification. The denotified land (as shown on the maps that formed part of the notification document of 7 January 2021 is no longer subject to the effects of notification as an SSSI.

Natural England confirmed the enlarged Cotswold Water Park SSSI under section 28C of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and
de-notified the areas no longer of Special Scientific Interest under section 28D of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 on 1 October 2021.

Natural England consulted with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Pinkworthy and Driver Farm Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 7 January 2021.

No objections have been received relating to Pinkworthy and Driver Farm SSSI notification under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. 

There have been two representations of support received to the notification, one from RSPB and one from Citizen Space.  

Natural England confirmed the notification of Pinkworthy and Driver Farm SSSI on 2 July 2021 without modification.

Natural England consulted with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Reigate Heath Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 30 October 2020.

Reigate Heath SSSI Consultation closed on 1 March 2021. No objections have been received relating to the notification of additional land under Section 28B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. There have been eight representations of support to the notification.

Natural England confirmed the additional land of Reigate Heath SSSI on 27 April 2021.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Cowslip Meadow Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 13 October 2020.

No objections have been received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

There have been two representations of support, from RSPB and one from Citizen Space with a further three neutral responses to the notification from the online consultation.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Cowslip Meadow SSSI on 11 June 2021 without modification.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Dallow Downs and Winsdon Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 13 October 2020.

One objection has been received relating to the notification of Dallow Downs and Winsdon Hill SSSI under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from Luton Borough Council. However this has been resolved by Officers resulting in a minor boundary amendment (reductions only) and revised area figure on the citation to reflect the mapping error Luton Borough Council raised.

There has been one representation of support and three neutral responses to the notification from the Citizen Space online consultation.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Dallow Downs and Winsdon Hill SSSI on 11 June 2021 with a modification to the boundary.

Natural England consulted with national and local stakeholders with an interest in the SSSI official statistics, on the proposed change to the measurement used in the reporting of SSSI condition in England from a unit or area based assessment to a whole feature based monitoring approach, between 7 December 2020 and 18 January 2021.

A total of 57 responses were received. 17 respondents were in favour of the proposed change, 9 respondents were not in favour of the proposed change, 9 respondents were neutral, 14 respondents were in favour of the change to feature based monitoring but not in favour of the Least Favourable Condition option. 3 respondents were in favour of the Least Favourable approach option but not in favour of the change to feature based monitoring. 5 respondents did not express a preference.

Following consideration of the responses, Natural England acknowledged that there was a need to organise further discussions to provide opportunities for stakeholders to discuss their specific concerns, agree solutions and ways of working in partnership, to ensure a smooth transition to feature-based monitoring.

Natural England organised further discussions with stakeholders from the Major Land Owners Group on 6 May 2021 and 13 May 2021, with representatives from the Water Industry and Interest Groups. The discussions were punctuated by questions from both groups of stakeholders and answers were provided by Natural England staff.

We are organising discussions with other organisations and stakeholders to provide further opportunities to discuss specific concerns.

Two pilots will be undertaken at the Duddon Estuary SSSI and West Nidderdale, Barden and Blubberhouses Moors respectively in 2021, and another 2 pilots in 2022, to inform the procedures and methodologies that will be implemented in feature-based monitoring. These will look at:

• how to ensure that land managers will still be able to understand whether the work they are doing is supporting the site condition,
• how to work on large and complex sites,
• how to best use new technologies to support condition assessment, and
• how to use data from others and citizen science.

Natural England will keep in regular contact with those who have provided contact details about how the pilots are progressing and how we will be addressing the concerns raised.

The consultation report will be published in the Autumn.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Johnsons’ Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 31 January 2020.

The Johnsons’ Meadows SSSI notification was the subject of two withdrawn objections from owners and 26 representations which expressed support to the SSSI notification.

Following consideration of representations and withdrawn objections, Natural England approved the confirmation of Johnsons’ Meadows SSSI under delegated authority without modification.

 

Natural England consulted with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Crime Rigg Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 18 October 2020.

Consultations closed on 18 February 2020.  No representations or objections have been received with respect to the:

• Variation of the notification under Section 28A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, to: rename the SSSI to reflect the current operating name of the quarry and the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site name; include a revised list of operations requiring Natural England's consent; re-represent the features of interest described in the ciation; and re-represent the statement of Natural England's views about management of the SSSI.
• Notification of additional land under Section 28B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
• Proposed de-notification of land that is not considered to be of special interest, under Section 28D of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Natural England confirmed the additional land of Crime Rigg Quarry SSSI and de-notified the area no longer of Special Scientific Interest on 7 April 2020.

Natural England consulted with owners, occupiers and interested parties on
the notification of Raisby Hill Quarry Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
on 18 October 2020.

Consultations closed on 18 February 2020. No representations or objections
have been received with respect to the:

• Variation of the notification under Section 28A of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, include a revised list of operations requiring Natural England's consent; re-represent the features of special interest described in the ciation; and re-represent the statement of Natural England's views about management of the SSSI.
• Notification of additional land under Section 28B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
• Proposed de-notification of land that is not considered to be of special interest, under Section 28D of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

 

Natural England confirmed the additional land of Raisby Hill Quarry SSSI and
de-notified the area no longer of Special Scientific Interest on 7 April 2020.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of The Leasowes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 7 February 2019.

Two objections were received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. However, both objections have subsequently been unconditionally withdrawn. Three representations of support were also received.

Natural England confirmed the notification of The Leasowes SSSI on 26 June 2019.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Down Farm Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 7 February 2019.

No objections have been received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Four representations of support were received from Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Dorset Wildlife Trust and West Dorset District Council.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Down Farm SSSI on 26 June 2019 without modification.

On 26 February 2019, Natural England launched a formal consultation with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the proposed amendments to the Isles of Scilly Special Protection Area (SPA).

The proposed amendments to the Isles of Scilly SPA received 35 responses supporting the proposal, and 3 objections were received.

The Minister approved the proposals to amend the Isles of Scilly SPA, and the extended site was classified on the 17 November 2020. The consultation report, citation and updated maps can be downloaded from this website and the GI data is available by request. 

Natural England consulted with the owners and interested parties on the notification of Oridge Street Meadows Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 10 January 2019.

One objection was received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Three representations of support were also received through the online consultation.

Natural England Board considered the objection and representations at its meeting on 11 September 2019 and approved confirmation of the notification of Oridge Street Meadows SSSI without modification.

On 31 July 2018, Natural England launched a formal consultation with owners, occupiers and interested parties on the:

• notification of the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI);

• proposed ‘de-notification’ of parts of the Seal Sands SSSI;

• proposed extensions to the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site.

The Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SSSI notification was the subject of 6 unresolved objections and 7 further objections that have been resolved subject to the Board of Natural England’s approval of recommended boundary modifications. There were also 12 further representations, 4 of which expressed support for the SSSI notification.

No objections were received to the proposal to de-notify parts of the Seal Sands SSSI.

The proposed extensions to the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SPA and Ramsar site received 7 responses supporting the proposal. 18 objections were received, 11 of which were resolved and 7 which were maintained by the respondent.

Following consideration of representations and objections at its meeting on 20 March 2019, the Board of Natural England approved the confirmation of the notification of the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SSSI with modifications to the boundary and, accordingly, to the area figure presented on the citation.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SSSI on 18 April 2019 and, on the same date, confirmed the de-notification of parts of the Seal Sands SSSI.

 The Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SPA and Ramsar site extensions were classified on the 16^th January 2020.

The Minister approved the proposals to extend the Teesmouth and Cleveland Coast SPA and Ramsar site, but with the boundary amendments as described within Annex 3 of the Consultation Report (available from this website).  Updated maps and citations can be downloaded from this website and the GI data is available by request.  

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Langdon Ridge Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 29 June 2018.

The Langdon Ridge SSSI notification was the subject of two unresolved objections and one further objection had been resolved subject to the Board approval of the recommended boundary modification. There were also 15 representations which expressed support for the SSSI notification

Following consideration of representations and objections at its meeting on 20 February 2019, the Board of Natural England approved the confirmation of the notification of the Landon Ridge SSSI with modifications to the description of the special interest and boundary map. Natural England confirmed the notification of Langdon Ridge SSSI on 21 March 2019.

Natural England consulted owners, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of additional land as part of the Poole Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 24 May 2018.

One objection was received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 but was subsequently withdrawn. Five representations expressing support for the notification were received through the online consultation.

Natural England confirmed the notification of additional land as part of the Poole Harbour SSSI with a modification to the boundary and, consequently, to the area figure on the citation. The boundary modification is to exclude the recently constructed Poole South Quay. This was constructed prior to notification of the additional land and was notified in error due to it not yet being depicted on Ordnance Survey base mapping.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Malvern Common Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 24 May 2018.

No objections have been received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Two representations were received regarding management of Malvern Common. Four further representations of support were received.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Malvern Common SSSI on 22 November 2018.

Natural England consulted with owner, occupiers and interested parties on the notification of Lazy Meadow Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on 24 May 2018.

No objections were received relating to the notification of this land under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Four representations of support were received through the online consultation.

Natural England confirmed the notification of Lazy Meadow SSSI on 22 November 2018.

We asked for your views on proposed updates to the waste duty of care code of practice, particularly in relation to the household waste duty of care, and on new guidance for local authorities in England on use of an FPN for breaches of that duty of care.

92 responses were received. For each question asked, the majority of respondents either supported the code of practice and local authority guidance in their proposed forms, or with some amendments to improve clarity of explain points in greater detail.

We revised the code of practice and local authority guidance to reflect the comments received, and they are now published on gov.uk.

During 2018, a statutory and public consultation was undertaken by Natural England in relation to the proposed boundary variation to the existing Suffolk Coast and Heaths (SC&H) AONB. The consultation responses were analysed by officers, including on site, and a detailed analysis report was produced.

Of the 113 respondents who responded using the questionnaire: • 89% (101) of respondents were in favour of the Stour estuary extension, with 5% (6 respondents) against it; • 63% (71) were in favour of the Samford valley extension, with 5% (6) against; • 64% (72) were in favour of the Freston Brook Extension, with less than 2% (1) against.

Natural England’s Board approved the Suffolk Coast and Heaths (Designation Variation) Order 2019 on 22 July 2019 and the legal paperwork was submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation. On 7 July 2020, the Secretary of State confirmed the Order, without making any modifications. The Order takes effect immediately. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB has now been extended by around 38 km². This increases the size of the existing AONB by approximately 9.5%. The newly designated areas lie in south Suffolk and north Essex and include: • the Stour Estuary and its southern valley slopes, • the Freston Brook Valley, • the Samford Valley. Further information is available via the following links: Press release – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boost-for-picturesque-landscapes-as-suffolk-coast-and-heaths-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty-extended Designation order – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/areas-of-outstanding-national-beauty-aonb-extensions-to-the-suffolk-coast-and-heaths-aonb