List of species and habitats of principal importance in England

England is obliged by UK law to maintain lists of species and habitats of principal importance for biodiversity conservation; the other countries within the UK: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, have their own laws for this purpose. Public bodies, including local authorities now have a legal duty to have regard to conserving biodiversity in the exercise of their normal functions.^[1] In England, this obligation derives from the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006.^[2][3]

Selection

The species that have been designated to be of "principal importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity" are those that are most threatened, in greatest decline, or where the UK holds a significant proportion of the world's total population. They mainly derive from lists originally drawn up for the

From these, the formal list just for England (and laid out below) finally contained 56 of those 65 habitats, and 943 of the original 1,150 UK species.[5]^[6][7][8][9]

Legal obligations

Section 40 of The

Awareness of the presence of any principal species or principal habitat identified on these lists is of great importance within the local authority planning process when land is considered for development. Along with legally protected species, statutory and non-statutory sites, knowledge of their presence is required if the impact of future development is to be avoided or mitigated. By fully considering all these features in the decision-making process, the planning authority will have demonstrated that it has discharged its duties to conserve biodiversity.^[11][12]

Habitats of 'principal importance' in England

The latest update to the list of Section 41 habitats of principal importance (priority habitats) was published by Natural England in August 2010.^[13][14]

The list shows the broad habitat group, followed by name of the habitat of principal importance (as used by original source).

Species of 'principal importance' in England

The latest update to the Section 41 list of species of principal importance for the conservation of biodiversity in England (priority species) was published by Natural England in May 2014. It now includes 943 species.^[15]