Return to Graphics Mode
Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Home > Protected Sites > Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) > UK SAC, SCI sites summary
News | Jobs | Publications | About JNCC | Accessibility | Contacts
Earth Heritage | Habitats | Species | Marine | International | Protected Sites | Conventions & Legislation | UK Biodiversity | Status & Trends | Surveillance & Monitoring
UK SAC, SCI sites summary|
UK SAC site list
|
England site list
|
Northern Ireland
|
Scotland
|
Wales
|
Offshore waters
|
Marine SACs
|
SAC selection
|
Download spatial and summary data
|
Download GIS data
|

UK SAC/SCI sites summary

Special Areas of Conservation/Sites of Community Importance in the UK as at 14 December 2009

There are a total 621 designated SACs, SCIs or cSACs in the United Kingdom (excluding Gibraltar). In addition, there are currently 3 possible SACs that have not yet been submitted to the European Commission.
 
(site area figures have been rounded to the nearest whole hectare)

 

 
Special Area of
Conservation (SAC)
1
Sites of Community
Importance (SCI)
2
Candidate SACs
(cSACs)
3
Possible SACs
(pSACs)
4
 Country No. Area (ha) No. Area (ha) No. Area (ha) No. Area (ha)*
England 230 845 856 0 0 1 375 0 0
England/Scotland 3 112 478 0 0 0 0 0 0
England/Wales 7 95 072 0 0 0 0 0 0
Northern Ireland 52 65 913 1 408 1 293 0 0
Scotland 236 921 225 0 0 0 0 1 5 279
Wales 85 590 871 0 0 0 0 0 0
UK Offshore Waters 0 0 0 0 5 268 409 2 606 646
UK total 613 2 631 415 1 408 7 269 077 3  611 925
Gibraltar 0 0 2 5687 0 0 0 0
 

Explanation of site status:

  1. Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are sites that have been adopted by the European Commission and formally designated by the government of each country in whose territory the site lies.
  2. Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) are sites that have been adopted by the European Commission but not yet formally designated by the government of each country.
  3. Candidate SACs (cSACs) are sites that have been submitted to the European Commission, but not yet formally adopted.
  4. Possible SACs (pSACs) are sites that have been formally advised to UK Government, but not yet submitted to the European Commission.
  5. Draft SACs (dSACs) are areas that have been formally advised to UK government as suitable for selection as SACs, but have not been formally approved by government as sites for public consultation.  This website does not provide information on  terrestrial / inshore dSACs, although further information on JNCC’s work on the identification of offshore draft SACs is available.”
 
Where an extension to a designated SAC or SCI is pending, different parts of the site can have different statuses - so, for example part of the site may be SAC, and the remainder cSAC. In this case the site would only appear once in the table, with the whole site shown as SAC.
 
* Site area information is not yet available for some possible SACs; also, all pSAC boundaries are subject to confirmation, so pSAC area figures are provisional, and give only a general indication of the total site area of pSACs.


Return to Graphics Mode
| Home | Site Map | Search | Legal | Feedback | List Access Keys |