Planning consideration

Sites of special scientific interest

A protected area that’s of particular interest to science due to rare species of fauna or flora or important geological or physiological features

---

• Design stage: Research
• Tags:
  • local plan
  • policies map
  • constraint
  • environmental
  • bng
  • footnote 7

  View a glossary of tags

• Github: Join the discussion
• Synonyms:
  • Protected sites
  • SSSIs
• Legislation: No legislation added
• Expected number of records: Unknown
• Frequency of updates: Ad hoc
• Useful links:
  • SSSI guidance
• Technical specification: No specification added

---

Related dataset

• Site of special scientific interest:

  • View schema on Github

---

Background information

Each planning consideration we work on passes through the stages of our design process, where we research and answer specific questions to help us collect more information.

Backlog

• Who asked for 'Sites of special scientific interest' data?

• What is the driver for the request?

• Which 2024 focus area does the request support?

Screen

• What is the 'Sites of special scientific interest' consideration?

• Is there legislation that defines 'Sites of special scientific interest'?

• Who, in law, is responsible for the planning consideration or makes decisions about 'Sites of special scientific interest'?

• Which organisations do we think should publish the data?

  • Natural England

• Is the Sites of special scientific interest a trigger?

• Is the Sites of special scientific interest something to consult during plan making?

• Is there any Sites of special scientific interest data already available?

  Yes

  • What Sites of special scientific interest data is currently available?

    • Item 1

      • Delete
      • Edit
      • url: https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/Defra::sites-of-special-scientific-interest-england/about
      • name: Sites of Special Scientific Interest (England)
      • licence: OGL3
      • coverage: England
      • publisher: Natural England
      • metadata_url: https://services.arcgis.com/JJzESW51TqeY9uat/arcgis/rest/services/SSSI_England/FeatureServer/0

• Do we think the data should come from a single source?

• Will a data standard be required?

Research

• Do we understand the lifecycle of a Sites of special scientific interest?

• Do we understand how the data is created/produced?

• Where will or should the data be used?

• What other planning considerations does it interact with?

  • Local plans - We think that SSSIs play a role in the process of creating a local plan as they are referenced multiple times.

• Who are the statutory consultees for Sites of special scientific interest?

  Natural England

• Other than the statutory consultees who are the primary users of Sites of special scientific interest? How do we expect them to use Sites of special scientific interest?

• What are the planning needs for this data?

• Who are the types of users who might benefit from having access to Sites of special scientific interest data?

• What are some potential uses of Sites of special scientific interest data?

• What's the value of adding Sites of special scientific interest data to the platform?

• From what we have learnt so far are there any risks to making Sites of special scientific interest data available?

---

2 updates

• Kieran Wint (06 September 2024)

  As per the data published by Natural England on data.gov.uk regarding SSSIs, the metadata suggests that this data is updated 'as needed', so it has been as ad hoc.

• Kieran Wint (04 September 2024)

  As per some research we did, summarised in this blog on an analysis of local plans and local area requirements, we're confident that this consideration acts as an INPUT to the process of creating a local plan.

---

Last updated: 2025-08-12 12:27:39