The status and protection of notified sites of special scientific interest in South-East England

Records of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) held within the South-East Region of the Nature Conservancy Council were examined. Reasons for site designation were complex and depended upon several flexible conservation criteria, as well as administrative considerations. The wide range of semi-natural habitats concerned were associated with poor, unproductive land, of little value to agriculture. However, SSSI status often failed to prevent damage by agencies such as farming, urban development and forestry, and resulted in a constant stream of proposals to develop or improve the land. Of these, the non-statutory consultations, especially those involving agricultural improvements, were most successfully implemented. Although urban development applications were more frequent, especially in densely populated counties, they were less successful because of existing planning controls.Pressures of all kinds resulted in the loss, or radical alteration of 6% of the notified SSSI area in Kent during an eleven year period (1968–1979), and affected two-thirds of all sites. A number of case studies are used to illustrate the main reasons for these losses, and the likelihood of future damage is discussed in the context of the greater protection measures now afforded by the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.