Landowners and farmers who fail to look after important wildlife habitats should face tough legal action, according to a parliamentary inquiry.

In certain cases Natural England, the Government’s landscape adviser, should start proceedings for compulsory purchase of such land, MPs say.

Officials should also make greater use of court orders to instruct owners exactly how they should be looking after these conservation areas.

The hard line from the Commons Public Accounts Committee underlines its concern for the fate of more than 4,000 English Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Sixty years after SSSIs were given legal protection MPs are concerned that many are in decline and could take years to put right.

The destruction of peatland, a vital form of natural carbon storage, and the threat to rare plants such as bog orchids are highlighted in a report by MPs.

Even though Natural England claims that it is on track to ensure that 95 per cent of these sites are in a “favourable” or “recovering” condition by the end of next year — in February some 86 per cent had already reached this standard — MPs are not convinced that the picture is a reliable one.

They found that assessments of the sites were based on out-of-date information, that the organisation’s records were inconsistent and incomplete, and that there was no audit system in place to ensure that objectives and assessments for each site complied with national guidelines.

The committee is particularly concerned that the £96 million a year that is needed to spend on the upkeep of these sites from 2010 will prove to be insufficient. More than a third of sites do not even have a scheduled programme for maintenance.

There is also some concern that so few people appear to be aware of the importance of these sites, and the committee has called on Natural England to do more to promote them.

Some, such as Richmond Park, southwest London, are used regularly for walking and enjoyment of nature but MPs are anxious about the damage to the habitats caused by litter and dog fouling. It wants Natural England to be more rigorous in taking up concerns with local authorities.

Edward Leigh, the committee chairman, said: “It hardly inspires confidence that Natural England’s performance in managing sites is based on out-of-date information and incomplete records. There are inconsistencies between sites in the information recorded. And, at June last year, the condition of a quarter of all sites had not been checked for a full six years.”

He called on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Natural England to draw up a detailed plan of action for each site.

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