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Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore potential Special Protection Area (pSPA) and proposed Ramsar (pRamsar) consultation

Close date: 6 December 2011

Open date: 13 September 2011

Natural England is holding a new consultation on the proposal to designate the Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore as a Special Protection Area and Ramsar Site.

The designation process

Designation involves several stages. Once a site has been identified by Natural England using the UK SPA selection guidelines and, for Ramsar sites, criteria set out in the Convention, the scientific case is presented to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for initial approval.

If there is agreement and Ministerial approval is given then Natural England is requested to undertake a public consultation on behalf of Government, to give everyone who might be affected by the designation, or who has relevant scientific information, an opportunity to comment. This includes land owners and occupiers, local planning authorities, other agencies and interested organisations.

Following the public consultation Natural England will collate the responses and draft a report outlining the final site recommendations. This report will be submitted to the Secretary of State for consideration. A summary report will be made available on this website. All stakeholders will then be informed of the status of the proposed designations.

The Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore pSPA/pRamsar site was originally identified by English Nature as potentially qualifying as a Special Protection Area and Ramsar site in October 2000. English Nature then consulted owners, occupiers, statutory authorities and other interested parties on the proposal to classify a SPA and designate a Ramsar site at the Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore in 2001 and submitted its report to Defra in 2004 but no decision was made at that time to designate the sites. 

Due to the length of time since the original consultation, it is considered necessary to undertake a new consultation exercise.

Qualifying features of the proposed designations

Proposals to designate the Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore pSPA and pRamsar site are being considered by the UK Government for a number of reasons.

The Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore pSPA and pRamsar, detailed in the scientific case presented to Defra, qualifies for the following reasons:

• The site regularly supports more than 1% of the GB populations of 3 species listed in Annex I of the EC Birds Directive (Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus and Common Tern Sterna hirundo).

• The site regularly supports more than 1% of the biogeographical population of one regularly occurring migratory species (Knot Calidris canutus).

• The site regularly supports more than 20,000 waterbirds during the non-breeding season.

Impact Assessment

Case law has established that a decision on whether or not to designate the site can only be taken on the basis of scientific evidence. Nevertheless the Government considers that it is important to be aware of any social and economic impacts of a designation. Natural England has therefore prepared a draft Impact Assessment (IA) in accordance with Government guidance. 

If you would like to comment on the draft assessment, please complete the IA response form and return it to Natural England at the address below.

• Impact Assessment: (1010kb)

• Impact Assessment response form: (33kb)

Departmental Brief

The scientific evidence supporting the designation was presented to Government in a Departmental Brief.

• View the Departmental Brief: (347kb)

• Links to source information cited within the Departmental Brief: (205kb) 

The purpose of the consultation

The purpose of the consultation is to seek the view of all interested parties on:

• The scientific case for the designation of the SPA and Ramsar site.

• The assessment of the likely economic and social impact of the designations.

The formal consultation will be conducted over a twelve week period, commencing 13 September 2011 until 6 December 2011. The full set of consultation documents are set out below.

Consultation documents

• Natura 2000: European Wildlife sites: (19kb)

Potential SPA

• pSPA map: (1.54mb)

• pSPA citation: (58kb)

Proposed Ramsar site

• pRamsar map: (1.38mb)

• pRamsar citation: (60kb)

Privacy

Responses that you send to Natural England regarding the proposed designations could form part of the consideration of the designation of the new sites and the responses will be published in a summary report.

If you do not wish your response or details to be publically available please inform us in writing to the address below so that if we receive a freedom of information request we can take this into account. Please note however that we are not bound to the confidentiality of your details irrespective of privacy statements within the responses you send. Please see our Freedom of Information pages for more information.