Statutory Plant Health Notices - Scotland

This layer shows the extent of Statutory Plant Health Notices (SPHN) issued by Scottish Forestry in Scotland. The SPHN extent defines the boundary within which the full conditions and biosecurity measures of the SPHN apply - for smaller woodlands this is usually the external boundary of the woodland. The layer includes both active notices and older ones which have expired. It includes SPHNs issued for any pests and diseases, although the majority are for Phytophthora ramorum.

The SPHN extent is usually a buffer from a confirmed infected site (250m for P. ramorum), but may exclude areas that do not contain relevant trees, or may be extended to logical boundaries on the ground, such as the edge of a forest block. An SPHN is issued to the land owner, so the buffer zone from one infection could be split into multiple SPHNs if the extent covers multiple ownerships. An SPHN is specific to one pest or disease, so if multiple infections are found in one area, multiple overlapping SPHNs will be issued, one for each pest or disease.

This layer contains SPHNs issued as long ago as 2010. There have been changes to the reference number formats used and the details collected in that time, so not all attributes will be completed for all features. This layer is not exhaustive and does not include some old, expired SPHNs, such as those for Chalara ash dieback.

Dataset Attributes:

sphn_ref: SPHN reference number sphn_status: Status of the SPHN pest_disease: Pest of Disease the SPHN is issued to target primary_host_species: Primary host species the pest or disease is found on primary_host_area_ha: Area, in hectares, covered by the primary host within the SPHN extent year_issued: Year the SPHN was issued in conservancy: Scottish Forestry conservancy office dealing with the SPHN fls_land: Is the SPHN on land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland pr_policy_zone: Is the SPHN within the Priority Action Zone or the Risk Reduction Zone for P. ramorum pr_man_zone: Is the SPHN within the P. ramorum Management Zone, if applicable

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated July 20, 2026, 07:29 (UTC)
Created August 29, 2024, 09:15 (UTC)