EUROPEAN designation is important for wildlife in Sussex and Natura 2000 is the formal term for the European network of protected areas established through nature directives.

Public authorities are obliged to take much greater care of designated European sites and exercise greater scrutiny in the planning process to determine areas for new housing and other developments.

Strict tests are applied to be sure that the habitats, animals or plants for which a Natura 2000 site has been established are not damaged.

If a development is absolutely essential, then the effects on wildlife must be properly and fully compensated.

This is a powerful tool in the defence of nature, and something which we have come to value very highly indeed.

So how does Sussex fit into this European network? We have 20 Natura 2000 sites – six Special Protection Areas (SPAs) totalling 9,000 hectares and 14 Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) totalling 13,500 hectares – some of which extend across county borders into Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

Protected species in SPAs include over- wintering water birds at Chichester and Langstone Harbours and the Rye Harbour/Dungeness complex hosting key breeding species of terns, Mediterranean gulls and wintering wildfowl.

Sussex SACs support rare Bechstein’s and barbastelle bats; the largest remnant patch of large-leaved lime woodland in southern England, woodland reserves at Ebernoe Common and The Mens and the chalk grasslands of Lewes Downs. Sussex also has a share in the vast 11,200 hectare Solent Maritime SAC which embraces a range of intertidal and coastal habitats.

We recognise the importance of protected wildlife sites to achieving our goals, which is why Sussex Wildlife Trust invests heavily in its own nature reserves. But our estate covers a small fraction of the Sussex countryside, an area about one tenth the size of the network of Natura 2000 sites in Sussex.

Are the European SPAs and SACs better protected than our nationally protected areas? The simple answer is, in our experience, most definitely, yes.

  • Dr Tony Whitbread is chief executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust