Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

11 Key excerpts on "Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  A History of Nature Conservation in Britain

  • David Evans(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  8 1980s: Building bridges and bringing down barriers

  THE Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

  In opening our review of nature conservation in the 1980s, we could do worse than to consider the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. Here, at the start of the decade, was an Act heralded as a comprehensive and effective measure to safeguard Britain’s natural heritage. Here, indeed, was a concrete manifestation of how far the conservationists had instilled their message in the national conscience; how far in practice, in cruel reality, Britain was willing to go in the interests of its flora and fauna, its landscape and environment.

  In Northern Ireland, the provisions of the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (NI) Order 1985 and the Wildlife (NI) Order 1985 have the same effect as this Act. There, Areas of Special Scientific Interest correspond to SSSIs on the mainland and, like NNRs, are designated by DoE(NI) in the absence of NCC in the province.

  While the Act of 1975 had been a narrow-sighted piece of protective law, the Wildlife and Countryside Act attempted to tackle the wider requirements of conservation. It concerned itself not only with individual species, but also, and primarily, with habitats and their management. It also considered countryside access. When, on 20 June 1979, the announcement was made to promote the Bill, it was not a reflection on any change of heart amongst the politicians but an effort to bring British conservation law up to European standards. For, in spite of claims that the UK was leading the way in conservation, its legal protection of the environment sadly trailed far behind that of other EEC countries. It was sometimes slow to ratify conventions and unwilling to endorse directives. An Advisory Committee was awaited under the terms of the Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, and a Scientific Authority had still to be announced under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act. The 1981 Act would appoint the NCC to these duties.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Environmental Law and Citizen Action

  • Alan Murdie(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 11 Habitat and the Protection of Wildlife

  DOI: 10.4324/9781315066707-11

  Britain has long considered itself as an animal-loving nation which values its countryside and natural heritage. Yet domestic legislation for protecting our natural heritage is limited and in many places seriously inadequate. The hunting of mammals remains an emotive issue, with an attempt to oudaw it in Parliament in 1992, 1 yet modern farming and developments which wipe out millions of members of non-mammalian lifeforms each year evoke comparatively litde concern. Certain species enjoy protection, but many more do not. One wonders whether the attitude of legislators on species protection is a variant of the philosophy of‘One death is a tragedy – a million is a statistic.’2 Killing a single member of a species can result in a person being summoned to the magistrates' court (perhaps after being searched and arrested) and fined or even imprisoned. But to wipe out every member of some other nonprotected species through development, land drainage, pesticides and the destruction of its habitat can be perfectly legal.3

  It is nearly ten years since the Nature Conservancy Council, then a unified body, stated that nature conservation had been a failure for the last 40 years.4 The ten years since has compounded this disaster.

  Against this depressing background, statutory agencies, environmental groups and concerned citizens are fighting a rearguard action. However, the potential does seem to exist at law to reverse much of the damage, utilising a ‘twin-track’ approach of both the criminal law and planning legislation.

  The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: Sites of Special Scientific Interest

  Conservation is largely covered by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as amended. Unfortunately, this Act is proving seriously flawed in its ability to protect unique sites. The designation of SSSIs has far more significance in theory than in actual reality, in spite of efforts to amend the legislation.5

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Planning and Environmental Protection

  A Review of Law and Policy

  • Chris E Miller(Author)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  5 Planning and Nature Conservation: Law in the Service of Biodiversity? CHRISTOPHER RODGERS THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF NATURE CONSERVATION LAW T HE PROTECTION OF wildlife habitats has been the focal point of nature con-servation law in the UK since 1947, when the landmark recommendations made by the Wildlife Conservation Special Committee were accepted (Huxley Report, 1947). The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 implemented the central recommendations of the Huxley Committee, and pro-vided for the designation (based on scientific and ecological criteria) of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Reserves. Partly as a consequence of the need to implement the requirements of the Berne Convention and the EC Wild Birds Directive, 1 the domestic legislation was considerably strengthened in Part 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and habitat protection in UK law is now based on the network of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) notified under the 1981 Act. The latest available statistics reveal that there are currently nine hundred and sixty-three notified SSSIs in Wales (Countryside Council for Wales, 1999) and four thousand and eighty-eight in England (English Nature, 2000). The legal regime for protecting wildlife sites in the UK is founded in the general principles of property law. The earliest statutory measures in this field, such as the 1949 Act, were primarily based in planning law. The emergence of a discrete body of ‘nature conservation law’ is a development of more recent provenance, in which the passing of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is of central importance (Rodgers, 1996). The changes introduced in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 placed greater emphasis on the role of the landowner in conservation law, and reinforced the key role he plays in delivering nature con-servation in protected sites.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  An Introduction to Animal Law

  • Cooper(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  (3) Control of pests: many wild species (e.g. foxes, weasels and many insects) are not protected in Great Britain. However, they and others, such as rats or grey squirrels, may be subject to control measures because they constitute pests (UFAW, 1985). Every species protected under (1) and (2) above may, in certain circumstances, be killed to pre- CONSERVATION 121 vent serious damage to crops or other property. The import, keeping and release of non-indigenous species into the wild in Great Britain (including some already established there (see later)) is prohibited. (4) Trade control: there are restrictions on the sale of species protected by the conservation legislation and controls on the sale of dead game (in conjunction with poaching controls); in addition, the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976 (as amended) and EEC Regu-lation 3626/82 (as amended) contain extensive provisions as to the trade in non-domesticated species. Even when species are not protected by legislation, voluntary codes may be drawn up to promote their conservation, as in the case of insect collecting (JCCBI, undated). See Appendix 3 (Note 18). Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 The conservation of free-living endangered species (other than birds where there has been long-standing legislation, or in specific nature reserves) first appeared in Britain in the 1970s. Until that time such creatures had no pro-tection, although their captive relatives were, and still are, protected from cruelty by the Protection of Animals Act 1911 and allied legislation (see Chapter 3). Habitat protection, apart from that provided by existing nature reserves and other limited provisions, was introduced by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which also revised the previous protection for wild birds and other creatures. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA) came into force on various dates but the parts relating to wildlife were fully effective from 28 September 1982.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Nature's Place (Routledge Revivals)

  Conservation Sites and Countryside Change

  • William M. Adams(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  The Wildlife and Countryside Act was on the statute books, and had been debated at great length, yet its implications for conservation were far from clear. The swift amendments in the Commons had produced a Bill whose detailed provisions were far from well worked out. While its fine complexities took time to appear, some problems were only too immediately apparent. Ann and Malcolm MacEwen, writing in The Planner in May 1982, noted ‘that ministers have sold Parliament a pig-in-a-poke. They refused to say precisely what the principles of compensation would be or to indicate how much money the Government would provide to enable the conservation authorities to pay the compensation’. This compensation element was judged by some potentially disastrous. The MacEwens believed ‘the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is, quite literally, unprincipled. It is a dead end, from which another government will have to retreat before it can advance by a different route. It leaves agriculture and conservation on a collision course, but provides no way of regulating the conflict except by pouring small amounts of money into a bottomless pit’ (p. 71). This was one of many critical views of the new Act. Before seeing how valid such criticism has been, we need to look first at exactly what provisions the Act finally incorporated for the protection of nature conservation sites. The Act in practice Despite the breadth and detail of debate about the Wildlife and Countryside Bill, or possibly because of it, the Act itself is a complex piece of legislation. In the last four years it has lost none of the controversy attached to the original Bill, indeed as the cumbersome and bureaucratic nature of its provision for SSSI protection and the soaring cost of management agreements came to the notice of observers the criticism increased. For some conservationists, disillusionment with the Act has been complete

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Urban Environments and Wildlife Law

  A Manual for Sustainable Development

  • Paul A. Rees(Author)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Byelaws may also provide for the issue of entry permits to the reserve and permits to do anything which would otherwise be unlawful. Only three MNRs have been designated so far: Lundy, Bristol Channel Skomer, Dyfed Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland Heritage Coasts are discussed as non-statutory landscape designa-tions in Section 5.3.3. The Marine Wildlife Conservation Bill is currently being considered by Parliament (see Chapter 10). Some marine species are also protected under other legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 and various European and international laws (see Chapter 7). 5.12 FARMING, WILDLIFE AND ACCESS TO THE COUNTRYSIDE Agricultural practices in the UK have caused significant damage to wildlife populations and habitats. The intensification of farming has led to the removal of hedgerows to facilitate the use of large machinery which itself has compacted the soil, reducing drainage and increasing runoff. The growing of single crop species over large areas has resulted in a loss of biodiversity and a general homogenisation of the countryside. Wildlife thrives on heterogeneity: a small woodland here, a pond there, a hedgerow, a ditch, a wild flower meadow, a mountain stream. Farming cannot expect to survive in isolation from the rest of the environment and there are signs that both EC and UK agricultural poli-cies plan to change the nature of our countryside by using economic measures to encourage the restoration of a variety of habitats. In the aftermath of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in February 2001 some of the farmers who lost their livestock, either from the disease itself or because of the contiguous culls implemented to control the disease, declared that they would not return to livestock farming.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Environmental Law in Scotland

  An Introduction and Guide

  • Francis McManus(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Edinburgh University Press

    (Publisher)

  235 The Scottish Ministers are required to take into account any views which have been expressed by those who have been consulted. 236 A national park authority is required to prepare a national park plan, the main objective of which is to set out how the national park is to be managed. 237 The national park authority is required to periodically review the plan. 238 324 Environmental Law in Scotland Summary • The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes provision for the pro-tection of wild animals, plants, sites of special scientific interest, nature reserves and Ramsar sites. • The Act makes provision for the protection of birds and eggs. • The Act makes it an offence to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take certain wild animals. • The Act makes special provision for the protection of wild hares and rabbits. • The Act makes provision for the protection of wild plants. • The Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 places a duty on public bodies to further the conservation of biodiversity. • The Act makes provision for nature conservation orders, and land management orders. • The Act makes special provision for Ramsar sites. • The Habitats and Birds Directives are implemented by the Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 1994. Notes 1. For a comprehensive coverage of the law which relates to nature conserva-tion, see C. Reid, ‘Nature conservation’, in F. McManus (ed.), Environmental Law in Scotland (W. Green/SULI) ch 12. See also C. Reid, Nature Conservation Law , 3rd edn (W. Green, 2009). 2. See p. 4-5 incl. 3. C. Reid, ‘Environmental legislation in the Scottish Parliament’, in volume no. 54, Miscellany V1 (Stair Memorial Society: Edinburgh, 2009) 63 at 67. 4. See Chapter 4. 5. The Act also makes provision for limestone pavements. 6. ‘Wild bird’ means any bird of a species which is ordinarily resident in or is a visitor to any Member State or the European territory of any Member State in a wild state but does not include poultry; ibid.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Environmental Law for The Built Environment

  • Jack Rostron(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  18 SACs will be those ‘which make a significant contribution to the conservation of the habitats and species identified by the Directive. These will be the best area to represent the range and variety of those habitats and species’. These flora and fauna are given strict protection which prohibits their deliberate capture, killing, destruction, disturbance or sale. Other less threatened species may be managed or taken from the wild, provided that this can be done sustainably, that is, without threat to the conservation of the species. The Habitats Directive has been implemented in the UK by the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/192). This requires all statutory bodies to act in accordance with the Directive.

  Statutory controls

  Under s 11 of the Countryside Act 1968,19 ministers and other public and statutory bodies must have regard to the desirability of conserving the natural beauty and amenity of the countryside. Under the Conservation (Natural Habitat, etc) Regulations 2000, the competent authorities must have regard to the requirements of the Habitat Directive in exercising their functions. The WCA 1981 was introduced by the then Government to meet the UK’s obligations under the Birds Directive 1979 to protect the habitat of certain species. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 set up the national parks and provided access to the countryside, whilst the Land Drainage Act 1994 allows ministers to intervene to save wetlands from drainage in the event of being threatened by an internal drainage board. Part III of the Environment Act 1995 amended the purposes of national parks and set up the national parks authorities.

  Habitat protection20

  • National parks were established in 1949.21 These are areas designated by the Countryside Commission and confirmed by the SOSETR as national parks. They are administered by national park authorities.22 The park authority has all the powers of an LPA in its area.23 National parks cover exceptionally fine stretches of relatively wild countryside. The object of designating them is to preserve and enhance their natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage and to promote opportunities for public understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of their areas. If there is conflict, conservation takes precedence. Development is very strictly controlled;24

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  The Changing Wildlife of Great Britain and Ireland

  • David L. Hawksworth(Author)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  For SSSIs existing in 1991, the agencies inherited from NCC a portfolio of ‘profit foregone’ agreements exercised under the 1981 Act. While it is a travesty to represent all of these as payment for doing nothing, the high costs and relatively poor value for money of some agreements attracted media attention. Determined moves have shifted the balance. In 1997–98, 84% of management agreements issued by English Nature were ‘positive’ (including the Wildlife Enhancement Scheme); yet ‘compensatory’ agreements, 16% by number, still absorbed 30% of total costs (EN 1998). Moreover, regrettably, despite improved relations with owners and occupiers achieved by all country agencies and the successful new positive management schemes, closer monitoring programmes now in place have shown continued decline in nature conservation features of SSSIs. In England, statistics for overall ‘special’ feature condition in 1997– 98 showed that 57% were favourable, 15% unfavourable but improving, 16% unfavourable with no change, and 12% unfavourable and declining; 0.09% of the resource had been destroyed, and 0.51% partly destroyed. Of the damaging activities, development (overwhelmingly, the continued extraction of peat under planning permission) accounted for 8% of the area damaged; the remainder suffered chiefly from neglect (some lowland heaths, fens and mires) or agricultural activities (predominantly overgrazing of upland sites). In both cases, the condition remains reversible with appropriate land use changes (EN 1998).

  Statistics such as these have been brought to public attention by VCOs, taken up by the media and aired in Parliament. In 1995, having won a place in the ballot and obtained cross-party support, James Couchman MP introduced a Wildlife Bill which, among other things, would have strengthened the provisions of Nature Conservation Orders, prohibited purely compensatory management agreements, introduced provisions for Restoration Orders and required the notification of statutory undertakers. After amendment in Committee, the Bill was passed, received a first Reading in the Lords but failed thereafter for lack of time. A new version of a Wildlife Bill, again with cross-party support, received a first Reading in the Commons on 3 November 1998, but was lost with the close of the session. Further Private Member’s aspirations for nationwide legislation have now been largely met by The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

  The 1997 Manifesto of the incoming Labour Administration contained a commitment to strengthen the protection of Britain’s wildlife. In September 1998, DETR (acting for England and Wales) issued a consultation document in which the Environment Ministers for both territories in their joint foreword expressed the ‘need to ensure that the statutory framework both encourages positive action, and properly empowers the conservation agencies in identifying and protecting

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Rural Change and Planning

  England and Wales in the Twentieth Century

  • Gordon Cherry, Alan Rogers(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Apart from this aspect, the Wildlife and Countryside Bill covered much of the ground of the Labour Government’s earlier Countryside Bill. However, in addition it was decided to amend and consolidate existing legislation for the conservation of plants and animals. Moving the Bill as a non-controversial piece of legislation (as it was believed), it was decided to commence the Bill’s passage in the House of Lords - a procedure reserved for Bills thought to require little discussion and amendment. In the event the Bill attracted a record of 1,120 amendments, trimmed to 560 for the Lords Committee stage, taking 13 sitting days. From Introduction to Commons Third Reading the Bill took longer to negotiate Parliament than any other Bill that session (Cox and Lowe, 1983). The major part of the controversy centred around which animals and plants were to be in the Schedules listing those which were to be protected, but it all indicated the heightened concern attending environmental and wildlife issues.

  The pivotal principle of the 1981 Act (it received the Royal Assent in October) was the control of the conflict between agriculture, and wildlife and landscape through the mechanism of management agreements, which were to be voluntary and fully compensated. The Nature Conservancy Council and/or the National Park in question would notify landowners of the conservation interest of their land when particular activities were likely to damage that interest. If a compromise could not be reached, the conservation authorities were obliged to compensate the landowner for any profit foregone as a result of his activity being denied, a procedural shift in landscape management, from custodialism to compensation, of profound significance.

  A very confused period began, complicated by other agricultural issues. The background was the growing realization that Britain was now self-sufficient in most temperate foodstuffs and that continued farm subsidies were generating huge, unwanted surpluses. There was resort therefore to a variety of mechanisms to extensify production, including to take land out of production (‘set-aside’ land), issues which are explored more fully in chapter 6

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Sourcebook on Environmental Law

  • Maurice Sunkin(Author)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)
• The powers conferred by this section on a relevant authority shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any powers conferred on such an authority by or under any enactment.
Note: The above section is as amended by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

CONSERVATION (NATURAL HABITATS, ETC) REGULATIONS 1994 SI 1994/2716 20 OCTOBER 1994

Regulation 1 Citation and commencement

1. These regulations may be cited as the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc) Regulations 1994.
2. These regulations shall come into force on the tenth day after that on which they are made.

Regulation 2 Interpretation and application

1. In these regulations– ‘agriculture Minister’ means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food or the Secretary of State; ‘competent authority’ shall be construed in accordance with Regulation 6; ‘destroy’, in relation to an egg, includes doing anything to the egg which is calculated to prevent it from hatching, and ‘destruction’ shall be construed accordingly; ‘enactment’ includes a local enactment and an enactment contained in subordinate legislation within the meaning of the Interpretation Act 1978; ‘European site’ has the meaning given by Regulation 10 and ‘European marine site’ means a European site which consists of, or so far as it consists of, marine areas;
   ‘functions’ includes powers and duties; ‘the Habitats Directive’ means Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora as amended by the Act of Accession to the EU by Austria, Finland and Sweden and by Council Directive 97/62/EC;
   ‘land’ includes land covered by water and as respects Scotland includes salmon fishings; ‘livestock’ includes any animal which is kept–