AREAS officially designated as England’s greatest wildlife or geological sites may no longer be worthy of the title, the Government’s spending watchdog warned.
The influential Public Accounts Committee found that a Government agency was unable to demonstrate that all Sites of Special Scientific Interests (SSSIs) still demonstrated features of special importance.
Many of the 4,000 SSSI sites in England were first designated more than 60 years ago.
SSSIs are afforded legal protection – through restrictions on activities and development – which has helped conserve habitats and wildlife in England that would otherwise be at risk of extinction.
But Edward Leigh, Tory MP and PAC chairman, said there was scope for Natural England, an agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), to identify new sites and declassify existing ones.
In a committee report released yesterday, he warned: “The changing nature of bio-diversity means sites may lose the special feature or may acquire new features worthy of conservation.”
