Natural England announces the second phase of Protected Species licence charges

Article edited 01/07/2019 following updates from Natural England

With bat and dormouse licence charges already in place since April this year, Natural England have announced the planned implementation of charges for badger and great crested newt licences.

Require a badger or great crested newt licence for your project? Charges will apply soon

Phase two of the roll-out of Natural England’s Wildlife Licensing Service has now been deferred until further notice. Further updates will be announced at the end of July.

Charges for badger licences will come into effect later this year, when all new applications and modifications will be subject to charges.

Charges for great crested newt licences are yet to be defined and will be implemented in November.

Need to make a modification to your bat or dormouse licence application? You may be charged

As of 1^st July, Natural England will be implementing charges for modifications to bat and dormouse mitigation licences, with the exception of cases where a charge exemption applies or where the modification is trivial in nature.

• Trivial modifications are non-chargeable and include changes to the named ecologist, or changes to the applicant;
• Non-trivial modifications are chargeable and include changes to the work schedule, figures and masterplan, and situations such as the late discovery of a bat species on site once the licence has been issued.

Modifications will be charged at the variable rate of £101 per hour. Most modifications for bat and dormouse licences are expected to cost under £500, therefore, Natural England will not be offering their price indication request service in these cases.

Find out more

For specifics on the charges that apply, as well details of charge exemptions, please refer to read our previous blog post on Natural England’s Wildlife Licensing Service.

Contact us for advice

Our experienced ecologists are based throughout the UK and hold mitigation licences for numerous protected species.

For advice on protected species licences and revised charges please speak to your local office who will be able to advise you on your project.