Euro-Site-Member | Network news

Eurosite members Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) have been working with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) together as the Government’s statutory advisors to establish UK Natura 2000 Marine Conservation Areas.

Work undertaken so far has included the identification and proposal of:

• Examples of marine habitats in territorial waters around the coast of England for designation as marine Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) to meet the requirements of the European Habitats Directive - to establish Natura 2000 Marine Conservation Areas;
• Examples of marine habitats in UK offshore waters for designation as offshore SACs; and,
• sites of particular importance for seabirds for designation around the coast of England and Wales as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) to meet the requirements of the European Birds Directive.

In the UK, once sites have been identified as draft SACs or SPAs they are recommended to Government for approval to undertake a public consultation. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs determines which sites in English and offshore waters are ultimately put forward to the European Commission for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network.

Recommendations include an indication of the likely positive and negative economic, social and environmental impacts of these designations (through impact assessments).
The Habitat and Birds Directives do not permit socio-economic impacts to influence the choice of sites or their boundaries.

The UK as a member state must identify the sites and boundaries based only on the presence of habitats and bird populations supplied in the Directives. This means that the impact assessments cannot influence site selection or boundaries. However they are required as a matter of Government policy, and may be used to inform the design of any measures that may be needed to manage activities so that the sites are conserved.

Marine Conservation Zones:

In a separate exercise, Natural England is also working with JNCC to begin identifying those areas that could be recommended as Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) under the Marine Bill currently being considered by Parliament.

The identification of MCZs will follow a separate process and a later timetable than that for Natura 2000 sites, and will be developed through stakeholder involvement in four regional MCZ projects;

• Finding Sanctuary (South West England);
• Irish Sea Conservation Zones;
• Net Gain (North Sea); and,
• Balanced Seas (South-East England).

CCW is working with the Welsh Assembly Government on a similar project in Welsh waters.

Useful reference:

Link: Full Natural England Article, including detailed site assessments, site maps and draft conservation objectives.