Natural England are considering charging for statutory assessment and issue of wildlife licences.

BPCA has recently written to Natural England expressing our concerns about the delays in issuing licences, and the problems this creates.

By charging for licences, this will give Natural England no excuse for delays and potential risk to public health as a result. 

What should you do?

If you are a licence holder you should remind yourself of the licence name and number, the legal purposes under which you applied and the activity that the licence covers.

You will then be better able to understand what the proposal may mean for you by referring to the tables under each section.

You can also refer to the more detailed information provided in the document . 

It seems the proposals exclude charges for the preservation of health and safety, the prevention of serious damage to property or the spread of disease among other things (see table 3 in the appendix).

This means that pest controllers with a valid need for a licence may not pay extra, and the additional funding from levies on other licences will, it is hoped, prevent backlogs and fund compliance.

Have your say

Have your say on whether this is a good thing or not by visiting https://consult.defra.gov.uk/natural-england/wildlife-licence-charges/ before 5 February 2018

BPCA will be making an official response in due course, which will be available to Members via the BPCA website.

Have your say

Appendix to Wildlife Licence consultation

Letter to Natural England