Currently only 11 out of the 220 British chalk streams have any legal protections as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). These are Hampshire’s Test, Somerset’s Frome, Dorset’s Bere Stream, Wiltshire and Berkshire’s Kennet, Norfolk’s Nar, Yorkshire’s Hull headwaters and Greater London’s Crane.
While only 4 are protected as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), a higher level of protection, these are the Hampshire and Wiltshire‘s Avon, Hampshire’s Itchen, Norfolk’s Wensum and Berkshire’s Lambourn. But while these protections are helping to keep these rivers in a better state than chalk streams that are not protected, we need new stronger protections specifically designed for our chalk streams.