Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
Background
Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are strictly protected sites
classified in accordance with Article 4 of the
EC Birds
Directive, which came into force in April 1979. They are
classified for rare and vulnerable birds (as listed on Annex I of
the Directive), and for regularly occurring migratory species. The
European Commission's website hosts a full copy of the
Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds
(Birds Directive) (the codified version of Council Directive
79/409/EEC as amended), within which all the Articles
and Annexes (including amendments) are given, along with
useful interpretation information. JNCC has prepared an
Index to key rulings of the
European Court of Justice relating to the selection,
classification and management of SPAs under Article 4 of the EU
Birds Directive.
Classification of SPAs

In the UK, the first SPAs were identified and classified in
the early to mid 1980s. Classification has since progressed and a
regularly updated
UK SPA Summary Table provides an overview of
both the number of classified SPAs and those approved by Government
that are currently in the process of being classified (these are
known as potential SPAs, or pSPAs).
A
full list of UK SPAs is also available,
which gives the site name, site code, area, and location and its
classification status. This has also been split into lists for each
individual country in the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland,
Wales).
The Birds Directive provides no formal criteria for selecting
SPAs, so the JNCC, on behalf of the statutory country conservation
agencies and government, published
SPA Selection
Guidelines for use in the UK. Each SPA has been selected
according to the principles laid out in the selection guidelines.
At the time of classification two documents are produced; the
citation and the
Natura 2000 Standard Data Form. Both are legal documents, the
former is used within the UK to consult with the public at
classification, and the latter is derived from the citation and is
the standard way in which data are registered by government and
transmitted to the European Commission.
Paper copies of citations can be requested from the relevant
country agency (
Natural
Resources Wales (formally Countryside Council for Wales),
Natural England
(formally English Nature) and
Scottish Natural Heritage, together
with the
Northern Ireland
Environment Agency), as can information on the Sites, or Areas,
of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI or ASSI) that underpin most
SPAs. However, we have converted the information that appears in
the Natura 2000 Standard Data Form for all classified SPAs into a
UK SPA Data Excel spreadsheet that can be
downloaded. This spreadsheet also contains other published data
relevant to SPAs, including text from the 'SPA Review' (see
below).
The boundary of each classified SPA is mapped digitally.
UK SPA
boundaries can be downloaded in the form of ArcShape files for
use in a GIS. Boundaries are not available for potential
SPAs.
The European Commission tracks progress in classification of
SPAs across the European Union by analysing the data submitted to
it by Member States in the Natura 2000 Standard Data Form. This
progress is then summarised in the regularly updated
Natura 2000 Barometer, which gives details of the number of
sites classified, the total area covered by these and what
proportion of the country this represents, along with a simple
assessment of how complete both a country's SPA network is and are
the data that have been sent to the Commission.
Review of the UK SPA Network

In the mid-1990s, the JNCC and country agencies were
requested by government to review the SPA network in the UK. This
review process culminated with the publication of what is commonly
known as the
SPA
Review (Stroud
et al. 2001; The UK SPA network: its
scope and content, JNCC).
The SPA Review revised our understanding of the UK SPA
network, both in terms of the number of sites selected and the
species that qualify within these sites. The review presents site
accounts that may differ from the currently classified SPA citation
and Natura 2000 Standard Data Form. These accounts are effectively
lists of potential qualifying species and as such, according to
government policy, these species are fully protected in the SPA or
pSPA. As a result of the review the legal documents for many
classified SPAs in the UK network now require amending to
incorporate changes to qualifying species; this process will take
some time to complete.
At completion of the SPA Review, the government consulted
widely with other stakeholders on the results. In response to this
consultation the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) convened an advisory group to take forward further
consideration of SPA network development; the
UK SPA & Ramsar
(Avian) Scientific Working Group (SPAR SWG).
The SPA Review focused largely on terrestrial SPAs, but
recognised the need for a review of implementation of the Birds
Directive in the UK's marine environment. This is now well underway
and more information is available elsewhere on this website in
Marine
Protected Areas. However, future updates to the information
presented here will also include marine SPAs.