OEP Launches Investigations into Special Protection Areas for Wild Birds - Office for Environmental Protection

The OEP is investigating the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary of State (SoS) and Natural England over possible failures to comply with environmental law in relation to Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for wild birds, it announced today (March 18, 2024).

The investigation will seek to determine whether Defra SoS and Natural England have failed to comply with environmental law relating to SPAs on land. This includes possible failures to implement recommendations given by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and other conservation public bodies on the classification and adaptation of SPAs and in respect of their general duties to protect and maintain wild bird populations.

SPAs are legally designated sites that protect rare and threatened wild birds, such as curlew, bittern and common tern found in England. SPAs are internationally important areas for breeding, overwintering, and migrating birds. They have also been shown to deliver positive outcomes for wider biodiversity.

Wild bird populations continue to decline across England, with 70 species now on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List1 – a number that has almost doubled in 25 years. The Severn Estuary, the North Pennine Moors, and The Wash are some examples of England’s SPAs, with the latter regularly supporting over 400,000 waterbirds over the winter.

The JNCC and other conservation public bodies have carried out reviews of SPAs that focus on land and coastal sites, in doing so, they then made recommendations to Defra on the creation of new SPAs and adaptation of existing SPAs in order to protect and maintain certain wild bird populations.

As part of its wider work the OEP will also seek to understand the progress of SPA reviews in the marine environment.

Responding to this:

Katie-Jo Luxton, conservation director at the RSPB said: “The UK’s wildlife is in trouble, almost half of our species are in decline and one in six is at risk of being lost completely from our land, sea and sky. We are in a nature and climate emergency and our network of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) should be fundamental to our efforts to halt and reverse wildlife decline.

“These are the areas that have been identified as being critical for wildlife. And yet nothing has been done to address the shortcomings of the UK’s network of SPAs despite over two decades of reports and recommendations to the four governments of the UK from their own advisors. Some are in poor condition, clear recommendations for the governance and adaptation of existing SPAs have been accepted but not acted on, and significant gaps in the network – both on land and at sea, remain unfilled.”