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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he plans to de-designate the Swanscombe Peninsula Site of Special Scientific Interest to allow housebuilding previously planned for the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.

Section 28D of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides the legal framework for denotification of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). If Natural England’s opinion is that an SSSI (or part of an SSSI) is no longer of special interest e.g. because of natural changes, they can denotify it. The Secretary of State has no role in the de-notification of terrestrial SSSIs.

Natural England has no plans to de-notify the site. They report that all but 1 of the 12 special features of Swanscombe Peninsula are in favourable condition.