19.05.12

THE RSPB is standing up for vital environmental legislation which protects Sussex’s most important wildlife sites after they came under attack from Chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn budget statement.

The society says the Habitats Regulations, which were brought in by a Conservative Government in 1994 in order to implement the European Habitats Directive, ensure major developments do not destroy our most important wildlife sites.

The Chancellor commented the burden of ‘endless social and environmental goals’ on industry and described the Habitats Regulations as a ‘ridiculous cost on British business’, claiming that they amounted to ‘gold plating’ on European legislation.

Defra is now set to carry out a review of the regulations.

The regulations were brought in to ensure the proper protection of the wildlife habitats of international importance such as Sussex’s coastal estuaries and harbours like Chichester and the chalk downland of the South Downs which stretches from Beachy Head in East Sussex to the Itchen Valley in Hampshire.

Source: West Sussex Today