Written question asked by Lord Fearn (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Rooker (Labour) on Monday, 30 October 2006.

Wildlife: Protected Areas

Question: Which areas of the English countryside and coastline are protected because they are red squirrel habitats.

Answer: The red squirrel is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In addition, it benefits from an individual species action plan that is led by the UK Red Squirrel Group, a consortium including all the UK conservation agencies and the Forestry Commission. The majority of red squirrel habitats remaining in England are conifer plantations and do not receive statutory protection as SSSIs, as Natural England believes this would do little to improve their conservation and management. However, the Forestry Commission plays an important role in agreeing and delivering management plans for many of these sites, and also provides woodland grants to assist in the delivery of biodiversity targets. This strategy provides the best chances of maintaining a red squirrel population on mainland England. In southern England, the red squirrel population does occupy some areas that are statutorily protected as SSSIs. These include parts of the two largest areas of woodland on the island, Parkhurst Forest and Briddlesford Woods. The other remaining English stronghold for the red squirrel is in the north of England. A major partnership project, Red Alert North England, is underway to manage 16 forests as red squirrel reserves, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Partners include the Forestry Commission, which is responsible for the management of more than half the reserve area, Natural England and the Wildlife Trusts for Northumberland, Cumbria and Lancashire.

Secondary information