The Bowland Fells Sites of Special Scientific Interest was classified as a SPA in December 1993 for its internationally important populations of breeding hen harrier and merlin.
As the Government’s statutory advisor Natural England is responsible for identifying possible SPAs and Ramsar sites and conducting, on behalf of Government, public consultation on proposals for these sites. It is proposed to include lesser black-backed gull as an additional feature as part of the Bowland Fells SPA.
The process
Once a site/amendment has been identified by Natural England, the scientific case is presented to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for initial approval. If there is agreement and Ministerial approval is given then Natural England is requested to undertake a public consultation on behalf of Government, to give everyone who might be affected by the proposal, or who has relevant scientific information, an opportunity to comment. This includes land owners and occupiers, local planning authorities, other agencies and interested organisations.
Following the public consultation Natural England will collate the responses and draft a report outlining the final site recommendations. This report will be submitted to the Secretary of State for consideration and a decision will be made on whether to classify/amend the site. All owners and occupiers will then be informed of the status of the proposal.
It is proposed to include lesser black-backed gull as an additional feature as part of the Bowland Fells SPA:
- The site regularly supports more than 1% of the biogeographical population of lesser black-backed gull a regularly occurring migratory species.
- A formal twelve week public consultation on the proposals to add breeding lesser black-backed gull as a feature of the site started on 18 September 2013 and is due to end on 11 December 2013.