Sites of Special Scientific Interest: consent inside the boundary

If your land lies inside a site of special scientific interest, you need Natural England's written consent before carrying out any operation on the list served with the notification, and that list usually includes ordinary farming activities such as ploughing, drainage, applying fertiliser, changing stocking levels or erecting a fence. This sssi consent operations regime sits in Part II of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as strengthened by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, and it is entirely separate from planning permission.

Owners are often surprised by how routine the listed operations are. The notification is not aimed at development. It is aimed at the day to day management decisions that would erode the interest the site was notified for.

What notification as an SSSI means for an owner

Natural England notifies a site under section 28 of the 1981 Act, and the notification is served on every owner and occupier and registered as a local land charge. It comes in three parts, and each does a different job.

The citation explains why the site is of special interest, describing the habitats, species or geological features that justify the designation. It is the document to read first, because everything else follows from it.

The list of operations requiring consent sets out what you may not do without Natural England's written agreement. It is drawn to fit the interest, so a site notified for its wet grassland will list drainage and water level management, while a geological site will list quarrying, infilling and vegetation clearance.

The views about management explain what Natural England considers the site needs if it is to stay in good condition. It is advisory rather than binding, but it shapes what consent is likely to be given for.

The notification runs with the land. A purchaser takes it as they find it, and the local land charge search will reveal it.

The list of operations requiring consent

Read your own list rather than a general description, because they differ site by site. The categories that recur are these.

• Cultivation, including ploughing, rotovating, harrowing and reseeding.
• Grazing changes, including stocking density, type of stock and the timing of grazing.
• Mowing, cutting and burning of vegetation, and the dates on which they happen.
• Application of manure, slurry, lime, fertiliser or pesticides.
• Drainage works, ditch maintenance, water level changes and abstraction.
• Tree and scrub planting, felling and clearance.
• Erection of fences, buildings, roads, tracks and hard standing.
• Extraction of minerals, infilling, dumping and levelling.
• Recreational or vehicular use that could damage the notified features.

The breadth is deliberate. An operation on the list is not prohibited, it simply cannot be carried out without consent, and Natural England grants a great many consents every year, often with conditions on timing or extent.

Applying to Natural England for consent

Give written notice of what you propose to do, where, when and how. Natural England will then consent, consent subject to conditions, or refuse, and there is a statutory period for it to respond.

Three things make an application go smoothly. Describe the operation precisely, with a plan showing exactly where it will happen and an area or length rather than a general description. Explain the purpose, because an operation carried out for conservation reasons reads differently from one carried out for yield. And propose the conditions yourself where you can, such as a date restriction outside the breeding season or a buffer from a watercourse.

Where the same operation recurs annually, ask for a consent covering a period of years rather than reapplying each season. Where the operation forms part of an agri-environment agreement, say so, because the two are usually aligned.

If consent is refused or granted on conditions you cannot live with, there is a right of appeal to the Secretary of State under the 1981 Act. Appeals are uncommon, and a negotiated conditional consent is the more usual outcome.

How planning permission interacts with the regime

The two regimes overlap in a way that catches people out, in both directions.

Where an operation is carried out in accordance with a planning permission granted on an application, separate consent from Natural England is not required. That is a real exception and it matters, because it means a development granted permission after proper consultation does not need a second consent for the same works.

The exception does not extend to permitted development. A building or a track put up under agricultural permitted development rights is not authorised by a planning permission granted on an application, so if the operation appears on your notified list you still need Natural England's consent. Prior notification to the council is not a substitute.

Coming the other way, section 28I of the 1981 Act requires a local planning authority to notify Natural England before granting permission for operations likely to damage the notified features, and Natural England is a statutory consultee. Impact risk zones published around SSSIs are used to screen which applications trigger that consultation, and they extend well beyond the boundary, so a scheme on neighbouring land can be caught.

An SSSI is also a sensitive area for environmental impact assessment purposes, which means the Schedule 2 thresholds fall away and even a small scheme has to be screened. Where that leads to a positive screening, the Environmental Impact Assessment must be prepared by competent experts under the 2017 Regulations, and no draft substitutes for that.

Refusal, appeal and management agreements

Natural England has tools beyond consent. Under the 1981 Act it can put in place a management scheme setting out how the land should be managed to conserve or restore the features, and if the scheme is not followed it can serve a management notice requiring specified work.

Agreements are the more common route. Funding through agri-environment schemes, together with a management agreement, is how most SSSI land in agricultural use is looked after, and the payments recognise the constraint the notification imposes.

For an owner, the practical advice is to engage rather than wait. A conversation with the local Natural England adviser about what the site needs generally produces a wider set of consents than a defensive application to do one thing.

Offences and restoration notices

The enforcement provisions have teeth, and they apply to owners, occupiers and third parties in different ways.

An owner or occupier who carries out a listed operation without consent, without reasonable excuse, commits an offence. A separate offence covers anyone who intentionally or recklessly destroys or damages the notified features or disturbs the fauna, which reaches contractors, neighbours and visitors rather than only the owner.

Courts can order restoration as well as impose a fine, and Natural England can serve a restoration notice requiring the land to be put back so far as is reasonably practicable. Restoring drained wet grassland or a cleared geological exposure is far more expensive than the operation that damaged it.

Ignorance is a weak defence, because the notification was served and is registered as a local land charge. Contractors are the usual weak point, so brief them in writing and mark the boundary on the ground.

Checking the citation and unit condition

Do this before you buy, before you plan any capital work, and before each grazing season if the site is sensitive.

1. Check whether the land is in or near an SSSI using the published mapping, which also shows impact risk zones and other designations.
2. Obtain the citation and the list of operations requiring consent for the specific unit, and read them alongside your management plan.
3. Check the current condition assessment for each unit, which Natural England publishes, since a unit assessed as unfavourable will attract more attention than one in favourable condition.
4. Check whether any consents, management schemes or agri-environment agreements are already in place from previous owners.
5. Record what you find with the date, because condition assessments and lists are updated.

A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal is the right first step where development is contemplated, since it identifies which notified features are present and what surveys are needed. Where protected species are involved, surveys and any licence require a suitably licensed ecologist under the 1981 Act and the habitats regulations, and a Protected Species Survey is a report type where that is legally required rather than advisable.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Every SSSI has its own citation and list of operations, so confirm the position with Natural England and take advice from a qualified ecologist before relying on any of it.

Work out what your site needs before the season closes. Browse the report types by category to see what a designated site scheme is likely to require.

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