SSSI designations and the impact on landowners

A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) – site designated as being of special interest under Section 28(1)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

A site may be designated in this way due to the flora or fauna present or the geological makeup of the area. Sites include:

• ancient woodlands
• species-rich grasslands
• heathlands
• coastal marshes and mudflats
• unique geological formations.

SSSIs are a key nature conservation designation. This conservation is enforced by Natural England, which has powers to ensure that the designated areas are protected and managed effectively. Under statute, Natural England can take appropriate enforcement action when the law is broken and when the habitat and features of the SSSIs are damaged, disturbed or destroyed. Natural England can and do use a variety of enforcement methods to deal with these offences, ranging from information site notices, warning letters, formal investigations and, on occasion, prosecutions. It is vital as a landowner to foster a good working relationship with your local Natural England officer and, in the event that any development is proposed on or near a SSSI, the plans should be talked through with the officer even before a formal application for consent is made to Natural England.

Development

Clearly, there is a tension between the landowner wishing to unlock the potential value of the land through development, and any likely impact upon a development site that has SSSI designation. This thorny issue must be taken into account at the very earliest planning stages of a development. An SSSI notification will include a list of operations likely to damage the features for which the site is regarded as special. On the other hand, the notification will by implication also highlight those operations and activities on the site that would be acceptable.

An SSSI notification will usually result in the refusal of any application for planning permission that would result in the damage of the SSSI area. Natural England has made a tool available on their website for local planning authorities and developers in England to assess whether a proposed development will affect an SSSI. If planning permission has been granted by a local authority that has consulted Natural England prior to issuing permission, no additional permission from Natural England will need to be obtained by the landowner.

Any application made to Natural England for formal consent can take up to 28 days to process. In the event that no response is obtained after four months, this should be taken as a refusal of the application. Any refusal is, however, subject to appeal, which must be lodged no more than two months from the date of the refusal.

Where planning permission is granted, mitigation measures will usually be included as planning obligations. In most instances of development within or near an SSSI, it is incumbent on the developer to offer some form of biodiversity offsetting to compensate for any damage. (A process under which a developer pays to restore another habitat site that has the potential to become at least the same quality as the habitat that will be lost as a result of the development.)

Entering an application for planning permission to be granted never comes with a guaranteed prospect of success, and in the case of sites with SSSI designations or near them, it is even less so. Expert advice should be taken at the earliest opportunity

The content of this article is for general information only. For further information regarding a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI), please contact Daisy Darrell or another member of Birketts’ Agriculture and Estates Team. Law covered as at January 2017.

This article is taken from our Agricultural Brief Winter 2016 publication. Similar articles can be found in the latest edition.