Concern for sites of scientific interest
T he Government’s under-fire wildlife agency Natural England has come in for criticism in the way it manages officially recognised wildlife sites.
Data unearthed by the Green Party appears to show that nearly half of all England’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) have not been examined in the past six years, as required by guidelines. It says neglected areas include the Pennines, Exmoor, the Lake District and much of the largest SSSI of The Wash on England’s east coast.
However, further questioning by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has also revealed that funding for Natural England’s monitoring of SSSIs has been cut from £1.58m in 2010 to £700,000 today, with more than 450 staff moving to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) since the vote to leave the EU in 2016.
“These figures reveal a government policy of systematically gutting Natural England,” Lucas says in a statement on her website. “This ideologically driven austerity is putting precious places at risk of irreversible destruction.”
Responding to a parliamentary question, Defra minister Thérèse Coffey said Natural England was prioritising work on upland SSSIs and developing more efficient ways of monitoring them by using remote-sensing technology and greater partnership involvement. JF
FIND OUT MORE
Search for your nearest SSSI, by visiting: designated sites.naturalengland.org.uk