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Somerset Levels and Moors: buying off the presumptive rights of landholders to manage the land as they see fit

Abstract Designations as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) are both intended to contribute to wetland conservation in an important farming area of Somerset. The first is a compulsory scheme and was resisted strongly on its introduction, whereas the second is based on a voluntary regime. Although the relevant SSSIs are within the Somerset Levels and Moors ESA, the two schemes are not alternatives. Both involve restrictions on agricultural practice and on farming operations, and thereby have an effect on capital and revenue values. In many, but not all, cases occupiers or owners are compensated financially. Whether such compensation is adequate from the landholder’s point of view, and whether the environmental benefits obtained as a result are equal in value to the cost of the schemes depends on how these values are measured. The future of both schemes is uncertain.