Dec 2010 - South Worcestershire Development Plan

SOUTH WORCESTERSHIRE ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 201092across South Worcestershire and how Development Policies arecontributing to the recovery or decline of these sites. The Governmenthas set a public service agreement (PSA) target that 95% of SSSIshould be in favourable condition or recovering position by 2010. TheWildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) states that publicbodies must “take reasonable steps, consistent with the properexercise of their functions, to further the conservation andenhancement of SSSIs (Natural England, 2007).MHDCCondition2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10Favourable 40 57 58 85UnfavourableRecovering40 18 25 58UnfavourableNo Change2 4 1 18UnfavourableDeclining4 7 2 0Table 24: Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) inSouth Worcestershire since 2006. (Malvern Hills and Worcester inyears 2006 to 2009. South Worcestershire in 2009/10)8.39 The SSSI condition data is taken from the Natural England website-viathe Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside portal(magic.gov.uk). Not every SSSI is assessed annually so the abovetable comprises historic and current data. The condition of sitescontinues to improve with 53% favourable compared. 89% of sites arein a favourable condition or recovering, currently this is below NaturalEngland’s target of 95% by 2010. However since 2006 SSSI in MalvernHills and Worcester City have improved year on year. There have beenno SSSIs lost to development or further sites designated.