Moderation

In 1999 The European Commission met with the UK and other EU Member States to discuss the lists of candidate Special Areas of Conservation drawn up by each Member State. The Commission found problems of some kind with all the lists and asked for a review of the information provided.  The UK was asked to improve the list it had submitted.

In response to this the moderation process took place.  The process could:

1. Modify existing cSACs to include additional features from the habitats and species listed in Annexe I and II in the Habitats Directive.

2. Changing the boundaries of cSACs to include existing features more comprehensively or to include additional features.

3. Identify additional SAC sites.

Sites which needed modifying and new sites for designation were identified by the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW - the National Assembly for Wales' advisor on nature conservation) and the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee.  A list of proposed modifications was submitted to the National Assembly.  CCW then carried out a consultation exercise with interested parties on the scientific basis for the proposed changes (the selection process is required by the EC to be based on scientific criteria only).  On completion of this consultation exercise the UK Government submitted the moderated list of sites, in a series of tranches, to the European Commission.