More must be done to manage and monitor the progress of 'recovering' Sites of Special Interest (SSSIs) across England, according to a new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Committee chair Edward Leigh MP said that Natural England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) need to establish a detailed plan to ensure that all SSSIs are moved into a favourable condition. The PAC report also claimed that out-of-date information and incomplete records had been used by Natural England in managing more than 4,000 SSSIs across England, with a quarter of all sites going unchecked for a six-year period to June 2008.

Leigh said: "What is needed now is for the Department and Natural England to establish a programme and detailed plan for moving all sites into a favourable condition. That plan should be used to produce reliable financial forecasts and to prioritise actions annually based on the available funding. "The natural environment is changing and so Natural England must also review its classification of existing sites to find out whether they still provide the most valuable conservation opportunities; to declassifying them where necessary; and to finding and designating new sites."

However, it was also revealed that DEFRA and Natural England are on track to meet targets established in 2000 to bring 95 per cent of all SSSIs into a 'favourable' or 'recovering' position by December 2010. By February 2009, 86 per cent was in target condition - up from 52 per cent in December 2002. Natural England chief executive Helen Phillips said: "After much hard work and investment, most SSSIs are now in a far better state under our management than they have been in for years.

"There is, however, no room for complacency - a great deal more work will be needed to ensure the full recovery of SSSIs and to maintain them at that level over the long term, especially in the face of the numerous external threats like climate change, development and changing land use."