English Nature has commissioned studies into water movements and concluded that only a 300 to 500m protected zone is needed around areas still holding vegetation and therefore believes that the previously stripped areas outside this zone (approx. 600 ha) fall outside the requirement for SSSI status. The land is owned by English Nature, and thus it believes that the long term future of the land is not affected by the de-notification.
The Thorne & Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum, through Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, disagrees with this viewpoint. Some of the areas threatened with de-notification actually have greater depths of peat than elsewhere, it argues. Additionally, if left, the stripped areas would be re-colonised, forming a larger and therefore more important, lowland raised peat mire. The site is of international importance and should be afforded more, not less, protection.
If you feel strongly about this issue, please write to your local MP, asking him/her to look into this matter. Further information can be obtained from the Forum via its secretary, Nicki Whitehouse, on (0114) 222 2921.