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<DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;"><DIV><DIV><P><SPAN>This is a spatial dataset that describes the geographic extent and location of Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006) Section 41 habitats of principal importance. This inventory replaces Natural England's previous separate BAP habitat inventories. These earlier inventories were produced from 1999 onwards and derived from habitat datasets collated from across the country, prioritising areas outside of designated sites. </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>The PHI currently maps 27 terrestrial and freshwater priority habitats across England. The PHI also includes four habitat classes which are not priority habitats, but which hold potential importance for conservation of biodiversity in England. These can indicate a mosaic of habitat which may contain priority habitats, have restoration potential and/or contribute to ecological networks. Where evidence indicates the presence of unmapped or fragmented priority habitats within such polygons, these are attributed as additional habitats. For some polygons the PHI contains additional information about the main habitats in the form of feature descriptions and corresponding feature codes. </SPAN></P><P><SPAN>For a full breakdown of the categories and their respective codes, please visit the Natural England Open Data site - https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/Defra::priority-habitats-inventory-england/about</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV> |