Natural England - Have your say on Liverpool Bay!
Have your say on Liverpool Bay!
8 February 2010
Only 3 weeks to go until the consultation closes.
Unique North West habitats could be protected under a network of European protected areas and Natural England is seeking your views on the proposed sites. There are only three weeks left of the public consultation and public feedback will help shape government proposals on which sites should be protected under a network of protected areas, ‘Natura 2000’.
The sites under consideration are:
Liverpool Bay proposed Special Protection Area to protect rare, vulnerable and migratory birds including the common scoter and the red-throated diver;
Shell Flat & Lune Deep proposed Special Area of Conservation to protect habitats of importance at the European scale including sandbanks and rocky reefs.
Sandbanks act as nursery grounds for many commercial fish species such as plaice and sole whilst also supporting sand eel communities that are a food source for seabirds, porpoises and seals. In contrast reefs support a colourful array of sponges, sea squirts and corals that provide shelter for crabs, lobsters and fish such as the multi-coloured cuckoo wrasse.
Feedback is important as it will help to shape the final proposals that the UK Government makes to the European Commission later this year.
A formal consultation has been underway since November 2009 and it will finish on Friday 26 February.
All information on the English and joint sites, including proposed boundary maps, can be found on Natural England’s website.
To comment formally on the proposals for Liverpool Bay and Shell Flat & Lune Deep, write to: northwest.marine@naturalengland.org.uk
Formal comments on the proposals for Liverpool Bay/Bae Lerpwl pSPA may also be sent in Welsh or English to the Countryside Council for Wales at: enquiries@ccw.co.uk
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For more information, please contact:
Will Herman 07919 303452, email: William.herman@naturalengland.org.uk or
Alexa Prescott 0300 060 2227 / 07919 165142, email: alexa.prescott@naturalengland.org.uk
