otified features. It will assess the level at which the site can sustain the proposed operations without causing significant negative effects. This is known as the site’s ‘carrying capacity’.
Where possible, Natural England will work with you to improve your proposal to avoid:
- damage to the site
- getting consent with conditions attached
- refusal of consent
You may need to pay for advice if your proposal is complex. Natural England will tell you if you need this service.
It’s an offence to carry out a listed operation without Natural England’s consent or to ignore the conditions of a consent.
Read the section on getting free or charged advice from Natural England before you apply for consent. This will help you submit your application.
Natural England will acknowledge receipt of your application within 10 working days. See What to include when you request consent.
If your application is straightforward, Natural England will try to give you a decision within 28 working days. Natural England can take up to 4 months to make its decision. It will tell you when you’re likely to get a decision if:
- your case is complex
- it’s going to take longer than 28 working days
If you do not receive a consent decision within 4 months, you should take this as a refusal of consent.
If you need advice quicker than 28 working days, you can pay for the fast-track advice service. This service is subject to Natural England’s discretion.
How to appeal against a decision
You have the right to appeal to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) if:
- Natural England refuses permission for operations
- you disagree with the conditions applied to the consent
- Natural England withdraws or modifies previous consent
- you do not get a consent decision within 4 months
SSSI condition and assessment
Natural England categorises the condition of SSSIs as one of the following:
- favourable - habitats and features are in a healthy state and are being conserved by appropriate management
- unfavourable (recovering condition) - if current management measures are sustained the site will recover over time
- unfavourable (no change) or unfavourable (declining condition) - special features are not being conserved or are being lost, so without appropriate management the site will never reach a favourable or recovering condition
- part destroyed or destroyed - there has been fundamental damage, where special features have been permanently lost and favourable condition cannot be achieved
Site visits and condition assessments
Natural England may visit your SSSI to check on its general condition. Natural England or expert contractors will carry out condition assessments if:
- Natural England thinks it’s necessary
- the condition of the site may change
For most sites they’ll do this at least once every 6 years. They may visit more often if a special feature:
- can only be assessed at a specific time of year
- is likely to change quickly, such as grassland
For sites where changes are expected to be slow, such as woodland, they may do a condition assessment once every 10 years.
Natural England will request your permission before visiting. It may use its power of entry if it believes the site is being damaged.
At other times, Natural England can enter the site without your permission but will only do this if:
- you’ve been notified of the visit
- you’ve not allowed access
For assessment, Natural England divides SSSIs into smaller units and assesses them against:
- a list of the features for which the site was designated
- related targets
You can see the SSSI targets on the ‘favourable condition table’ by searching for your site on the DSS. You’ll find the favourable condition table underneath the site summary box.
If one of the special features of your site is a rare plant species, the assessment is likely to include a measure of population size and distribution within the unit. Similarly, if a particular habitat is a feature, Natural England will measure its extent, structure and species composition.
After the assessment, Natural England will conta