Sites of Special Scientific Interest
(asked on 4th November 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of sites of special scientific interest in each county in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 April 2023 Natural England changed from a unit (or area)-based assessment and reporting process to one based on the features within each site, called Whole Feature Assessment. A feature is a habitat, species, or geological characteristic for which the site is important.
The table below shows the percentage of Sites of Special Scientific Interest features in each county that are assessed as being in favourable condition as of 31st October 2025:
County | % of SSSI features in favourable condition |
Bedfordshire | 40.0% |
Berkshire | 68.7% |
Bristol | 45.2% |
Buckinghamshire | 57.1% |
Cambridgeshire | 41.8% |
Cheshire | 27.3% |
Cornwall | 51.5% |
Cumbria | 36.9% |
Derbyshire | 28.0% |
Devon | 46.8% |
Dorset | 23.0% |
Durham | 40.8% |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 49.5% |
East Sussex | 34.5% |
Essex | 43.6% |
Gloucestershire | 49.9% |
Greater London | 62.1% |
Greater Manchester | 36.2% |
Hampshire | 35.2% |
Herefordshire | 35.4% |
Hertfordshire | 50.0% |
Isle of Wight | 46.0% |
Kent | 39.9% |
Lancashire | 43.4% |
Leicestershire | 40.4% |
Lincolnshire | 47.9% |
Merseyside | 23.6% |
Norfolk | 42.4% |
North Yorkshire | 46.5% |
Northamptonshire | 37.0% |
Northumberland | 39.3% |
Nottinghamshire | 17.4% |
Oxfordshire | 55.2% |
Rutland | 51.1% |
Shropshire | 46.7% |
Somerset | 38.0% |
South Yorkshire | 43.1% |
Staffordshire | 18.2% |
Suffolk | 37.0% |
Surrey | 50.8% |
Tyne & Wear | 46.5% |
Warwickshire | 68.7% |
West Midlands | 45.3% |
West Sussex | 26.5% |
West Yorkshire | 35.1% |
Wiltshire | 44.1% |
Worcestershire | 48.4% |
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