dataset · England
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (England)
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is the land notified as an SSSI under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), as amended. Sites notified under the 1949 Act only are not included in the Data set. SSSI are the finest sites for wildlife and natural features in England, supporting many characteristic, rare and endangered species, habitats and natural features. The data do not include "proposed" sites. Boundaries are generally mapped against Ordnance Survey MasterMap. Attribution statem
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Licence: ["There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.", "There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the
Evidence quality: 68.4
Listed in data.gov.uk public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) boundaries, England
- Coverage docs-verified
- England
- Resolution docs-verified
- Boundaries generally mapped against Ordnance Survey MasterMap; no numeric scale stated
- Update frequency docs-verified
- monthly
- Formats docs-verified
- Shapefile (ZIP) · GeoPackage (ZIP) · GeoJSON (ZIP) · File Geodatabase (ZIP) · ArcGIS layer file (.lyr) · OGC API - Features · WFS · WMS
- Access docs-verified
- Free and open; no public access constraints; Open Government Licence v3.0
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Ecological and planning constraints screening for drainage, civils or flood schemes in England · Overlaying SSSI boundaries on BNG habitat baseline maps · Environmental due diligence flagging SSSI proximity for development sites · Site selection GIS layer for ecological constraints
- Audience llm-inferred
- ecologists · planners · GIS analysts · environmental consultants · drainage engineers
Limitations
- Constraints docs-verified
- Sites notified only under the 1949 Act are not included · Proposed SSSI sites are not included · Boundaries are generally, not exactly, mapped against OS MasterMap · Attribution statement required: © Natural England copyright
Evidence
- https://environment.data.gov.uk/api/file/download?fileDataSetId=2e2d1185-1acb-469d-9f88-9f54e2506a5d&fileName=Sites_of_Special_Scientific_Interest_England.gdb.zip
- https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/5b632bd7-9838-4ef2-9101-ea9384421b0d/sites-of-special-scientific-interest-england3
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.