Environmentally Sensitive Area Scheme Options for England

22 Environmentally Sensitive Areas in England, covering approximately 10% of agricultural land. The dataset contains live option points from the now-closed scheme, which was introduced in 1987 to incentivize conservation farming practices. It was superseded by the Environmental Stewardship Scheme in 2005.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical conservation policy adoption based on the scheme's geographic points.
• Map environmentally sensitive agricultural zones based on the 22 designated areas.
• Study the transition from the ESA scheme to Environmental Stewardship based on the scheme's closure date.

Strengths

• Covers 22 distinct environmentally sensitive areas in England.
• Derived from authoritative AESIS tables and contains Ordnance Survey data.
• Provides a specific historical context with scheme introduction (1987) and closure (2005) dates.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Natural England, Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Derived from AESIS tables.

Time Range

Scheme active from 1987 to 2005; data snapshot date unknown.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

England