Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation SINCs (= Biological Local Sites) are essential for the conservation of wildlife in the county of Nottinghamshire. Nottinghamshire is not unique in having Local Wildlife Sites. Most counties and unitary authorities have a similar system. The SINC system acts as a 'flagging up' process to ensure that the interest of these sites is not lost through ignorance. Local plan policies exist to help protect these sites by not allowing development to take place that would be damaging except in rare circumstances where the need for such development is so great that it is judged to override the wildlife interest.

Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation are not the same as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). SSSIs are legally protected and are nationally important for wildlife. Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation are important at the county level have no statutory protection and do not necessarily support protected species. The owner of land which has been designated as a SINC is not obliged to carry out work to protect or maintain the land’s wildlife interest. The designation of land as a SINC does not mean that anyone has rights of access to the site which they would not otherwise have. Unless specified in the site description the wildlife interest does not extend to dwellings and gardens within the SINC boundary.

In Nottinghamshire there are over 1200 Local Wildlife Sites covering a total area of over 16,201 hectares (roughly 7.5% of the county). They range from small sites such as a churchyard important for its grassland species to large woodland sites of several hundred hectares.