GovWire

For land you own or occupy, Natural England can select all or part of it for protection. Natural England will do this when it believes the site has features of special interest, such as its:

• wildlife
• geology
• landform

Natural England will notify (or designate) the land as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The section New SSSI notifications tells you more about the designation process and your rights.

This guide tells you what rules you must follow when you manage land you own or occupy within a SSSI.

If you do not own or occupy the land and you plan an activity such as an event or survey, you must work with the owner or occupier.

Theres separate SSSI guidance for public bodies.

Achieving favourable condition

Natural Englands objective is to achieve favourable condition status for all SSSIs. Favourable condition means that the SSSIs habitats and features are in a healthy state and are being conserved by appropriate management.

Natural England will assess whether proposals to carry out operations within a SSSI have a positive or negative effect on the condition of a site.

See SSSI condition and assessment for details of how Natural England classifies the condition of SSSIs.

Check if your land is within a SSSI

All SSSIs in England are registered on the Land Charges register. If youre buying land, your conveyancing search will check if its notified as a SSSI. You can also use the Magic map system to check if your land or land youre buying is within a SSSI.

1. Click on the + symbol below the on-screen compass to zoom in on the detail.

2. Drag the map to your location using your mouse or mouse pad.

3. Click on the i identify tool in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

4. Using the crosshair, click on the map to find out the name of the SSSI.

Change of ownership

You must tell Natural England within 28 days about changes to the ownership or occupation of SSSI land, including if:

• you sell your land
• you lease it to another person
• someone else gets the right to use the land (known as an easement)

Manage SSSI land effectively

You must manage land within a SSSI effectively and appropriately to conserve the special features of the site, such as:

• grazing animals at particular times of the year
• managing woodland
• controlling water levels
• managing scrub on species-rich grassland

You must check if you need consent before you start work to:

• carry out management tasks
• change an existing management regime

Check if you need consent

There are certain things you cannot do on SSSI land without consulting Natural England and getting consent first. For example, you might want to change the way you manage woodland or change a grazing regime.

Each SSSI has a list of activities, known as operations, which need Natural Englands consent.

Find out about your land within a SSSI

Use the designated sites system (DSS) to search for a SSSI to:

• get the list of operations requiring Natural Englands consent (the ORNEC list) - you can download a list for each SSSI
• get a map of the sites boundary
• find out why the site was designated
• get Natural Englands views about management report for its steer on how to manage land effectively
• find out the condition of the site

You must get written consent from Natural England if you intend to carry out a listed operation within the boundary of the SSSI. Read the section Get consent to carry out operations on your land for guidance on how to do this.

If you do not have Natural Englands permission, you could:

• get an unlimited fine if you - or you allow someone else to - carry out a listed operation
• have to pay to repair any damage to the site

When operations do not need consent

You do not need consent for:

• emergency work, for example to protect livestock during a flood (you must tell Natural England as soon as possible afterwards)
• operations with permission from a public body or local authority (they must have consulted Natural England before they granted permission)
• an operation which is not on the ORNEC list for that site

Get free advice

You may be able to get free advice from Natural England before submitting your proposal to help reduce delays in the consent process.

Natural England can provide free advice on:

• checking if your proposal will significantly affect a SSSI
• what you should include with your proposal
• routine and repeated operations on the SSSI, including routine agricultural activities
• management of your site to reach a favourable or recovering condition
• management measures specific to your sites notified features
• potential sources of funding
• the law on protecting the SSSI

If you need support with these topics, contact Natural England.

Pay for standard advice

You can pay for extra advice from Natural England if what you want to do is more complicated. Natural England can:

• help you review your survey results
• advise on your mitigation strategies to reduce damage to the environment
• advise on drafting your consent application
• help if you need advice quickly (in less than 28 working days)
• help if you need complex advice to meet a defined deadline

Contact Natural England as soon as possible if you need advice quickly.

If you want Natural Englands advice you must ask for it before you submit your notice for consent.

How much you might pay depends on:

• the amount of advice you need from Natural England and how complex your proposal is
• whether or not a Natural England adviser needs to visit your site
• how quickly you need advice

If you want advice on how to avoid damage to protected sites or species, youll pay 110 per hour.

If you want a meeting, youll pay:

• 500 per adviser for a 90 minute meeting: at your site, a Natural England office or using a conference call
• 110 per hour per adviser for each additional hour

If you want an adviser to travel to your site, youll pay the advisers:

• travel costs at 45p per mile
• public transport, tolls and expenses over and above the mileage at cost
• travel time as part of the hourly ra
  

  View the original news story