The Habitats Directive Risks tool shares our information on the risks posed to protected sites from activities we regulate.
We have developed our process for implementing the Habitats Regulations over many years. When the implementation of the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives in England was reviewed by Defra in 2011 we undertook to share our information on the risks posed to protected sites from activities we regulate. The Habitats Directive Risks tool does this.
What can the tool do?
This tool can either be used to provide generic hazards matrices, which show the types of hazard to protected habitats or species that may be associated with a particular type of activity, or site specific versions for more specific information. The hazards matrices help us to determine the potential effects on a protected site of any of the activities that we regulate.
How does that benefit me?
By having this information early you may be able to avoid or mitigate some of the potential adverse effects of your activities on the environment. It may also help us speed up the process of determining your permit application in due course.
Has the application process changed?
The hazards matrices have long been part of our assessment process and this tool uses those matrices without altering them. The information we are providing has been reviewed with Natural England and Countryside Council for Wales.
The tool
This tool requires Microsoft Access 2003 or above to run. Please download this file and extract its contents for use on your computer.
If you are not able to use the tool then you may want to use the matrices themselves.
This tool considers habitats and species protected by the Habitats Regulations, which covers both the Habitats Directive and the Wild Birds Directive. More details can be found in the Quick guide.
For technical queries please email us.
