On Friday 3 May Natural England published two new general licences for controlling birds.
The licences, which allows people to kill or take Canada geese to preserve public health and safety and wood pigeon for preventing serious damage to crops are part of a programme to replace the previous general licences for controlling 16 species of birds.
Natural England has said it is working at full speed to ensure that those affected by the decision to revoke three general licences can continue to control certain wild birds where necessary.
Further general licences will be issued as quickly as possible. This will mean people can continue to take the necessary action as they do now, while also taking into account the needs of wildlife.
Those who need to control Canada geese and wood pigeon in the circumstances described in these licences can now do so without further steps - there is no need to apply for an individual licence.
For people who need to take action in other situations before new general licences are issued, Natural England has also published an online application system for individual control licences. During the application process, users will be advised how to take urgent action if they cannot wait for their application to be determined.
Natural England has said the decision to revoke these licences was not taken lightly and that they "explored all other options available but was left with no choice but to revoke the licences".
"This was done to protect people with legitimate reasons to control wildlife from potentially committing offences by acting outside the law".
Natural England’s interim chief executive Marian Spain said:
“The new licences should give peace of mind to people who need to shoot to control certain wildlife that they can do so within the law.
“I recognise, as does my team at Natural England, that the interim measures will cause disruption for licence users. This is not a ban on control, it is a change to the licences that allow control to take place.”
NEED TO CONTROL A SPECIES NOT COVERED BY A GENERAL LICENCE?
BPCA met with Natural England to discuss how pest management professionals can continue to protect public health, even if a specific general licence hasn't been published yet.
You can read our guide on what to do in the interim here.
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