Environmentally Sensitive Areas - Scotland
ESAs
Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) were identified as areas of the countryside where the landscape, wildlife or historic interest is of national importance and where these environmental features can be affected by farming operations. Features such as hedges, walls, ditches, field barns, hay meadows, heather moorland and river valley grasslands have been created by traditional farming methods over hundreds of years and are highly valued, both for their scenic beauty and for the habitats they provide for plants and wildlife. The ESA Scheme was designed to promote agriculture practices which have helped create these distinctive landscapes and have contributed to the maintenance of wildlife habitats or historic features. Introduced in 1987, the scheme formed part of the Scottish Agri-Environment Programme which was required to meet the UK Government's obligations under the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). The scheme allowed farmers and crofters within designated areas to have access to payments to sustain or adopt environmentally-friendly farming practices. Participation by farmers and crofters in the Scheme was voluntary. The scheme is no longer active and has been superseded by the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) of the Scottish Rural Development Programme. It should be noted that ESAs are not a national landscape and/or nature conservation designation. ESAs have no planning status and therefore cannot be used as a reason for refusing planning applications.
dataset
https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WMSServer?
protocol: OGC:WMS
name: EnvironmentallySensitiveAreas
description: OGC View Service
function: information
https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WFSServer?
protocol: OGC:WFS
name: PS:EnvironmentallySensitiveAreas
description: OGC Feature Download
function: download
https://maps.gov.scot/server/rest/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/2
protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
name: Environmentally Sensitive Areas
description: ESRI REST Service
function: download
https://maps.gov.scot/ATOM/shapefiles/SG_EnvironmentallySensitiveAreas_1996.zip
protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download
description: ESRI Shapefile Download
function: download
SG_EnvironmentallySensitiveAreas
www.gov.scot
eng
environment
farming
Protected sites
publication
2008-06-01
environmental management
publication
2010-01-13
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
publication
2020-11-18
-8.80
-0.71
60.87
54.63
publication
2007-12-13
GB-SCT
creation
1996-01-01
notPlanned
ESAs were introduced under Section 18 of the 1986 Agriculture Act (UK Public General Act 1986/49) to help safeguard areas where the landscape, wildlife or historic interest is of national importance; and because it was recognised that agriculture can have a major influence on the conservation and enhancement of the landscape, wildlife and historical features. ESAs in Scotland were designated under powers given to the Secretary of State through the Act, while individual Statutory Instruments set out the terms and conditions for each designated area. The lineage of this digital dataset is unknown, however, it is believed the boundaries were digitised from maps included in a report produced by Scottish Natural Heritage (precursor to NatureScot) around 1996.
publication
2010-12-08
false
WMS
1.3.0
Available under the terms of the Open Government Licence. The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: © Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right [insert year].
GIS Analyst
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
United Kingdom
protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
publisher
GIS Analyst
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
United Kingdom
protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link
pointOfContact
2023-02-03T11:30:07