2008 No. 431
WILDLIFE, england

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Variation of Schedule 5) (England) Order 2008

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force

The Secretary of State—

(a)
has received a representation made to him by the GB conservation bodies acting through the Joint Nature Conservation Committee in accordance with Part 2 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 20061;
(b)
in accordance with section 26(4)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 19812, has given any local authority affected and any other person affected an opportunity to submit objections or representations with respect to the subject matter of this Order; and
(c)

is of the opinion that the animals listed in the Schedule to this Order are in danger of extinction in Great Britain or likely to become so endangered unless conservation measures are taken.

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 22(3) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 19813, the Secretary of State makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement and extent1.

(1)

This Order may be cited as the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Variation of Schedule 5) (England) Order 2008.

(2)

This Order shall come into force on 6th April 2008.

(3)

This Order extends to England and Wales only4.

Variation of Schedule 52.

In Schedule 5 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 19815 (animals which are protected)—

(a)

insert the entries listed in the Schedule;

(b)

in the entry relating to “Vole, Water”, before “in respect of section 9(4) only”, insert “in so far as this entry has effect with respect to Wales,”; and

(c)

at the end of the Schedule, insert the following note—

“NOTE 2. In this Schedule “excluded waters” means the part of the territorial waters adjacent to England which is more than 6 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of those waters are measured; and for these purposes “nautical miles” means international nautical miles of 1,852 metres.”.

Joan Ruddock
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

SCHEDULE

Article 2

Common Name

Scientific Name

Seahorse, Short Snouted (with respect to England only)

Hippocampus hippocampus

Seahorse, Spiny (with respect to England only)

Hippocampus guttulatus

Shark, Angel (in respect of section 9(1) only and with respect to England, other than the excluded waters, only)

Squatina squatina

Snail, Roman (in respect of section 9(1), (2) and (5) only and with respect to England only)

Helix pomatia

EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which applies substantively in relation to England only, varies Schedule 5 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which lists animals protected under section 9 of that Act.

Article 2(a) adds four animals to Schedule 5. Two seahorse species (short snouted seahorse and spiny seahorse) are given general protection under section 9. The angel shark and the roman snail are given limited protection. The protection afforded to angel shark does not apply to those territorial waters between 6 and 12 nautical miles from baselines. Article 2(b) replaces the limited protection previously afforded to water vole by general protection.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.

Copies of Schedule 5 may be obtained, free of charge, from the Wildlife Species Conservation Division, Defra, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN.