Data: Three Quarters of England’s Most Precious Nature Sites In Poor State

By Emma Howard: Less than a quarter of England’s most important habitats inspected in the last six years are in good condition, a new Unearthed analysis of nature reveals.

Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are areas that are legally protected for their rare or endangered plants or animals, rare ecosystems or geological features. England has more than a million hectares of SSSI land.

Official statistics suggest that over a third (34.5%) of land with SSSI status is “in favourable condition” and the government stated last year that there had been no change in the proportion of sites in this condition since 2016.

The vast majority of “favourable” assessments are based on outdated inspections, the analysis shows. The government’s nature advisor recommends that sites should be monitored every six years, but 81% of “favourable” assessments date from before July 2018.

Analysis by Unearthed found that of the areas inspected within this timeframe, 77% were in “unfavourable condition”.

A quarter of SSSI units have not been assessed at all since the Conservative government came to power in 2010. Over the same period budgets for Natural England, which is responsible for monitoring SSSIs, have been slashed. Natural England did not provide an on-the-record comment for this piece.

“Successive UK governments have presided over this precipitous decline of our most important places for nature,” said Kate Jennings, head of site conservation and species policy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

“England is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth. The next government will inherit legally binding targets for nature’s recovery and must step up to their international commitments too.”

The UK government led the push for the global deal to protect 30% of land and seas by 2030, a target known as “30 by 30” that was agreed at the landmark biodiversity summit in December 2022. The government also set out new legally binding targets under the Environment Act, including a target to halt species decline by 2030.

Labour has pledged to uphold the 30 by 30 target and to halt the decline of British species – although this was not included in the party’s manifesto.

As little as 3% of England’s land – and 5% across the UK – is currently being effectively protected, research by the RSPB found in 2021. The study looked at the amount of land that is currently protected by an official designation such as SSSI and in good condition.

Data also suggests that the more recently a site has been assessed, the more likely it is to be classified as being in poor condition. An analysis by NGO WildJustice published last yearfound that while only 1% of land last assessed before 2011 was classified as declining, this figure shot up to 31% for sites last assessed between 2021 and 2023.

 

A wildlife haven in peril

The River Test SSSI, in Hampshire, is a chalk stream – one of the rarest habitats on the planet, found almost exclusively in England.

The river’s famously clear waters are world renowned for their trout and salmon fishing, and are also home to otters and kingfishers. Its banks are lined with marigolds, iris and watercress, and it features in the novel Watership Down.

But the River Test SSSI has not been monitored by Natural England since 2013. Many parts of the site were classified as being in unfavourable condition even then, including the river itself, due to pollution, invasive species and over-abstraction – excessive removal of water from the river for human use.

Campaigners say the problems persist, and tests reveal that an increasingly complex cocktail of chemicals is hidden in its waters. In 2022, testing by the University of Portsmouth identified 121 insecticides, herbicides and pharmaceuticals in the Test and the adjoining river Itchen. The most significant levels were found downstream of sewage treatment plants.

A 2023 investigation by Unearthed found 673 hours of sewage discharges into the river on 53 occasions in 2022 alone, and the riverkeepers have recorded further discharges since. This year, local riverkeepers organised protests at Southern Water’s nearby treatment works.

Over-abstraction, too, continues to be a problem. South-east England, where the Test lies, is the most water-stressed part of the country and its chalk rivers are a source of drinking water for millions of people.

“Water companies have been taking too much water from the rivers and from boreholes,” said  Justin Neal, a solicitor at the NGO Wildfish. “This means that the habitats of the two rivers have been denuded of life and are now less resilient to the inflow of sewage, especially in times of drought,  when the water companies seek to take more. ”

He added: “Urgent action is required to stop the unsustainable abstraction before the unique sub-species of chalk stream salmon in these rivers is driven to extinction.”

Although the Environment Agency reached an agreement with Southern Water in 2018 that the company would reduce the amount it is abstracting by 2027, documents uncovered byWildfish point to a plan to extend this deadline by eight years. The NGO is threatening legal action if the extension goes ahead.

Less than a quarter of England’s most important habitats inspected in the last six years are in good condition, a new Unearthed analysis reveals.

Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) are areas that are legally protected for their rare or endangered plants or animals, rare ecosystems or geological features. England has more than a million hectares of SSSI land.

Official statistics suggest that over a third (34.5%) of land with SSSI status is “in favourable condition” and the government stated last year that there had been no change in the proportion of sites in this condition since 2016.

The vast majority of “favourable” assessments are based on outdated inspections, the analysis shows. The government’s nature advisor recommends that sites should be monitored every six years, but 81% of “favourable” assessments date from before July 2018.

>Analysis by Unearthed found that of the areas inspected within this timeframe, 77% were in “unfavourable condition”.

A quarter of SSSI units have not been assessed at all since the Conservative government came to power in 2010. Over the same period budgets for Natural England, which is responsible for monitoring SSSIs, have been slashed. Natural England did not provide an on-the-record comment for this piece.

“Successive UK governments have presided over this precipitous decline of our most important places for nature,” said Kate Jennings, head of site conservation and species policy at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

“England is now one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth. The next government will inherit legally binding targets for nature’s recovery and must step up to their international commitments too.”

The UK government led the push for the global deal to protect 30% of land and seas by 2030, a target known as “30 by 30” that was agreed at the landmark biodiversity summit in December 2022. The government also set out new legally binding targets under the Environment Act, including a target to halt species decline by 2030.

Labour has pledged to uphold the 30 by 30 target and to halt the decline of British species – although this was not included in the party’s manifesto.

As little as 3% of England’s land – and 5% across the UK – is currently being effectively protected, research by the RSPB found in 2021. The study looked at the amount of land that is currently protected by an official designation such as SSSI and in good condition.

Data also suggests that the more recently a site has been assessed, the more likely it is to be classified as being in poor condition. An analysis by NGO WildJustice published last yearfound that while only 1% of land last assessed before 2011 was classified as declining, this figure shot up to 31% for sites last assessed between 2021 and 2023.

Southern Water told Unearthed it plans to build a new reservoir and a water recycling project, and is investing in environmental projects to reduce its impact on the river. “Hampshire’s chalk streams are precious – we remain committed to our role in improving their health,” said Nick Mills, the company’s environment and innovation director.

In the nine years that he has been working on the river, he says he has noticed declines in aquatic flies and Atlantic salmon, a species that is now at risk of extinction. Last winter, for the first time, Crosswaite says he did not see a single salmon nest, despite adding more gravel into the river to support them. A decade ago he would see about 20 in the course of a winter, he estimates.

Data collected by the Test & Itchen Association and the Environment Agency broadly bear out these observations of decline on the Test.

But Crosswaite told Unearthed that while the riverkeepers try to report their concerns to the Environment Agency and Natural England, it has “become increasingly difficult” to obtain information from them.

“I think the agencies that should have been assessing this river have been diluted. They haven’t got the manpower or money to look at what’s going on.”

 

Inspection backlog

Tony Juniper, wrote to MPs that its funding had been slashed by 45% since 2014 and was “below the level required to deliver all of our statutory duties to a good standard”.

Under Rishi Sunak’s government, Natural England’s budget has been increased, but it remains 21% lower in real terms than when the Conservatives came to power.

In 2023 the government committed in its Environment Improvement Plan to restoring 75% of SSSIs to favourable condition by 2042, and for all SSSIs to have an up-to-date assessment by 2028.

There appears to have been an uptick in monitoring in the last couple of years: 6.7% of SSSI land has been newly assessed so far this year, while just 4.5% of land was most recently assessed in 2022. Natural England does not report the total amount of land asssessed each year, only the most recent date that each site was assessed.

 

 

 

Yet the backlog remains severe. Around 72% of SSSI land has not been assessed in the last six years – the timeframe recommended by its statutory nature advisor, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

The government states that “for most sites” Natural England aims to visit at least once every six years, but for “sites where changes are expected to be slow, such as woodland, they may do a condition assessment once every 10 years”. Unearthed understands that since 2015, Natural England has prioritised monitoring the most vulnerable sites.

As Natural England has returned to do fresh monitoring, some iconic sites have been downgraded. Last year the Wye Valley, known for its looping river, limestone gorges and salmon populations, was reclassified as “declining” – due in part to water pollution, which campaigners largely attribute to a dramatic increase in poultry farms in the area.

The Somerset levels and moors, a wetland area home to rare bird and insect species,  was downgraded after water monitoring revealed phosphate levels three times higher than they should be, due to sewage and agricultural pollution.

A quarter of sites have not been assessed in the 14 years since the Conservatives first came to power and slashed Natural England’s budget. Official statistics also point to a decline over that period – while 35% of SSSIs are currently classed as in favourable condition, in 2010 this figure stood at 43% according to a report by the RSPB.

“The next government must properly resource, support and empower our environmental regulators to tackle the major causes of decline in nature such as overgrazing and pollution, and work with landowners to secure effective management and restoration across the protected sites network,” the RSPB’s Kate Jennings told Unearthed.

Data analysis by Liam Rowan and Emma Howard.

 

 

 

 

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