Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) national nature reserves, (2) marine conservation zones, (3) special protection areas, and (4) Ramsar sites, are in a favourable condition in each county in England.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Data on National Nature Reserves, terrestrial Special Protection Areas (SPAs), and Ramsar sites is included in the spreadsheet attached. Due to terrestrial SPAs being considered at low-tide there is an overlap between these reported figures and the SPAs with marine components.
Data on SPAs with marine components and on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) is collected at feature level rather than by county, as the majority of sites are at sea and therefore often fall outside county jurisdiction. Within English waters, there are 89 MCZs (excluding HPMAs) covering 625 features, and 49 marine SPAs covering 208 features. The latest data from Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee indicates that 64.8% of English MCZs features and 19.7% of English marine SPA features are considered to be in favourable condition.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they hold data about the condition of flora in each county in England, and if so, whether they will publish that data.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England (NE) does not hold county-level data on plants. When it requires such information, NE works with partners to access excellent quality datasets such as the ‘distribution database’ of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, which may be filtered by county. Such datasets may be processed and published by partners e.g. as County Floras or Rare Plant Registers. NE’s own holding of botanical data focuses on protected sites rather than county scale information. NE recently worked with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland to produce a new GB level red list for vascular plants.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of special areas of conservation in each county in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table below sets out the percentage of terrestrial special areas of consideration (SAC) feature area in each county assessed as being in favourable condition as of October 2025.
Four counties have no SAC features recorded within their boundaries and are therefore not listed in the table: Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, and the City of London.
County | % of SAC features in favourable condition |
Berkshire | 66.0% |
Bristol | 3.3% |
Buckinghamshire | 56.1% |
Cambridgeshire | 45.1% |
Cheshire | 4.1% |
Cornwall | 27.9% |
Cumbria | 28.1% |
Derbyshire | 18.9% |
Devon | 37.5% |
Dorset | 40.0% |
Durham | 25.6% |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 46.7% |
East Sussex | 35.8% |
Essex | 26.3% |
Gloucestershire | 20.4% |
Greater London | 52.3% |
Greater Manchester | 2.9% |
Hampshire | 37.5% |
Herefordshire | 12.0% |
Hertfordshire | 81.9% |
Isle of Wight | 31.7% |
Kent | 49.0% |
Lancashire | 27.3% |
Leicestershire | 0.0% |
Lincolnshire | 47.5% |
Merseyside | 0.0% |
Norfolk | 27.6% |
North Yorkshire | 37.7% |
Northumberland | 30.8% |
Nottinghamshire | 0.0% |
Oxfordshire | 83.9% |
Shropshire | 4.7% |
Somerset | 27.7% |
South Yorkshire | 2.4% |
Staffordshire | 15.5% |
Suffolk | 41.8% |
Surrey | 69.9% |
Tyne & Wear | 12.5% |
Warwickshire | 100.0% |
West Midlands | 20.6% |
West Sussex | 35.9% |
West Yorkshire | 2.5% |
Wiltshire | 37.6% |
Worcestershire | 50.0% |
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of local nature reserves (1) in each county, and (2) in each local authority area, in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities are responsible for declaring Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) and ensuring they are managed appropriately. There is no statutory requirement for LNRs to meet a specific “favourable condition” standard. As a result, Defra does not hold data on the condition of LNRs by county or local authority.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of sites of special scientific interest in each county in England are in a favourable condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 April 2023 Natural England changed from a unit (or area)-based assessment and reporting process to one based on the features within each site, called Whole Feature Assessment. A feature is a habitat, species, or geological characteristic for which the site is important.
The table below shows the percentage of Sites of Special Scientific Interest features in each county that are assessed as being in favourable condition as of 31st October 2025:
County | % of SSSI features in favourable condition |
Bedfordshire | 40.0% |
Berkshire | 68.7% |
Bristol | 45.2% |
Buckinghamshire | 57.1% |
Cambridgeshire | 41.8% |
Cheshire | 27.3% |
Cornwall | 51.5% |
Cumbria | 36.9% |
Derbyshire | 28.0% |
Devon | 46.8% |
Dorset | 23.0% |
Durham | 40.8% |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 49.5% |
East Sussex | 34.5% |
Essex | 43.6% |
Gloucestershire | 49.9% |
Greater London | 62.1% |
Greater Manchester | 36.2% |
Hampshire | 35.2% |
Herefordshire | 35.4% |
Hertfordshire | 50.0% |
Isle of Wight | 46.0% |
Kent | 39.9% |
Lancashire | 43.4% |
Leicestershire | 40.4% |
Lincolnshire | 47.9% |
Merseyside | 23.6% |
Norfolk | 42.4% |
North Yorkshire | 46.5% |
Northamptonshire | 37.0% |
Northumberland | 39.3% |
Nottinghamshire | 17.4% |
Oxfordshire | 55.2% |
Rutland | 51.1% |
Shropshire | 46.7% |
Somerset | 38.0% |
South Yorkshire | 43.1% |
Staffordshire | 18.2% |
Suffolk | 37.0% |
Surrey | 50.8% |
Tyne & Wear | 46.5% |
Warwickshire | 68.7% |
West Midlands | 45.3% |
West Sussex | 26.5% |
West Yorkshire | 35.1% |
Wiltshire | 44.1% |
Worcestershire | 48.4% |
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Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of rivers in each county in England are in a good overall condition.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The most recent comprehensive assessment in 2019 shows that 16% of rivers in England are achieving good ecological status. This information is available on the Environment Agency’s Catchment Data Explorer, where it is presented for individual water bodies, river catchments and river basin districts. The next comprehensive assessment of the condition of the water environment is underway and will be published next year.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 24 April (HL7121), what assessment they have made of the emission of (1) greenhouse gasses, and (2) other pollutants, as a result of fires and explosions caused by lithium-ion batteries.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Environment Agency regulates larger industrial installations in England and are not aware of any assessment being made of the emissions from fires of caused by lithium-ion batteries for their regulatory, permitting or incident functions. Currently, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are not considered an ‘Installation’ under the ‘Regulatory Guidance Note No. 2 Understanding the meaning of regulated facility’. Therefore, BESS do not require a permit, Risk Management Strategy, or Plan. The Environment Agency is in discussions with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the issue.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) reduce risk, and (2) mitigate the impact of lithium-ion battery fires in waste processing plants.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Sites storing and processing waste are required to have a fire prevention plan (FPP) to mitigate and manage the fire risk on site. A critical part of the FPP is to have robust waste acceptance procedures in place to ensure that lithium-ion batteries and other ignition sources are separated, stored and treated appropriately to prevent fires occurring. Defra is reviewing the existing UK Batteries Regulations with a view to consulting by end 2023. As part of this review, work is ongoing to understand the potential safety risks of lithium-ion batteries.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the withdrawal of waste or recycling services as a result of lithium-ion batteries fires in waste processing plants.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra has not made an assessment of the withdrawal of waste or recycling services as a result of lithium-ion batteries in waste processing plants. Waste diversion to other authorised facilities routinely happens when a plant is down for maintenance, refurbishment or closed.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 24 April (HL7121), what assessment they have made of the cost of fires in waste processing plants resulting from lithium-ion batteries.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra has not made an assessment of the costs of fires arising in waste processing plants. Research conducted by Eunomia and the Environmental Services Association which was published in 2021 estimated the annual cost of lithium-ion battery fires to be £158 million. A copy is attached to this answer.