Several UK wildlife sites are to get a new form of European super-protection under the forthcoming Habitats Directive.
It will mean that “overwhelming national interest” will be the only criterion for permitting their ecological integrity to be breached by, for example, development such as road building, reports The Independent.Michael Meacher, environment minister, will submit a final list of 340 Special Areas of Conservation to Brussels today. They total nearly 1.7m ha (4.3m acres). They range from Windsor Forest and Great Park, Berkshire, to The New Forest, Hampshire.
The Independent 21/06/99 page 8
