The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has found possible failures to comply with environmental law by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in relation to the protection of wild birds.
An investigation was launched in March 2024 looking into possible failures to implement recommendations given by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and other conservation public bodies on the classification and adaptation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) on land and in respect of their general duties to protect and maintain wild bird populations.
The OEP has now concluded that there may have been failures to comply with environmental law and issued DAERA with an information notice setting out the details of its findings (1). DAERA has two months to respond to the notice. The OEP will consider the response before deciding next steps.
Helen Venn, Chief Regulatory Officer for the OEP, said: “Government has a legal obligation to maintain populations of wild birds and ensure they have enough suitable habitat. One way in which they do this is through Special Protection Areas, which are legally designated sites that protect rare and threatened wild birds, such as whooper swans, puffins, and light-bellied brent geese. They are internationally important areas for breeding, overwintering, and migrating birds, and have also been shown to deliver positive outcomes for wider biodiversity.
“However, populations of wild birds continue to decline across Northern Ireland, with recent studies placing a quarter of birds found on the island of Ireland on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List.
“There has been constructive engagement during our investigation with DAERA and note that some positive steps are being taken in these areas.
“However, our investigation has found what we believe to be possible failures to comply with environmental law by DAERA relating to the protection of wild birds and we have therefore decided to move to the next step in our enforcement process, which is to issue an information notice setting out our findings.”
A parallel investigation is looking at the same issues relating to England, and information notices have also been issued to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Secretary of State (SoS) and Natural England.
When the investigations were launched, the OEP said it would also consider whether the same issues applied in the marine environment. We have concluded that there has also been a possible failure to comply with environmental law relating to the classification of marine SPAs. The relevant duty in relation to this issue falls on the SoS and this has been added to the scope of the investigation and included in the information notice issued to the SoS.
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) and the Interim Environmental Protection Assessor for Wales (IEPAW) have also been considering issues around SPAs and have been kept up to date with the OEP’s findings.
References
1: regs 3, 3A, 3B, 8A and 8C of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 read with arts 2, 3 and 4 of Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds.
Notes
This investigation is a statutory investigation under paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 of the Environment Act 2021. We have given the information notice under paragraph 9 of Schedule 3 of the Environment Act 2021. The information notice describes the alleged failures by DAERA to comply with environmental law, explains why we believe this is serious and requests specific information relating to the allegations. DAERA must respond in writing to the information notices. The deadline set for the responses is 5 August 2025. We will use this information to understand the facts of the situation, which can inform future decisions. Under paragraph 15 of Schedule 3 Environment Act 2021, the OEP must publish a statement where it gives an information notice. This public notice is given pursuant to paragraph 15 of Schedule 3 of the Environment Act 2021.
The OEP’s strategy and enforcement policy can be found here. The OEP has powers to carry out an investigation into whether a public authority has complied with environmental law. Public bodies, including DAERA, have a statutory duty to cooperate with OEP and provide it with such reasonable assistance as it requests. An investigation may lead to enforcement action.
