Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the number of areas in the UK that have been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest in each of the last five years.

Notification of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) is a devolved matter and data for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are held by the respective administrations. Designation of SSSIs in England is a matter for Natural England.

SSSI designation is a two‑stage process. Sites are first notified, at which point they become legally protected. Notifications are then confirmed, usually within nine months,

once any objections or representations have been considered.

For the purposes of this answer, “designated” is taken to mean confirmed SSSI notifications. On that basis, the number of SSSIs designated in England, by calendar year, is as follows:

Confirmation often takes place in a year following notification, so notified and confirmed figures do not necessarily relate to the same sites.