General Licences delayed

The 2025 general licences for the release of common pheasant and red-legged partridge in and around Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Areas (SPA) in England have still not been published, leaving affected shoots in a state of uncertainty. The previous licences expired on 1 February 2025, therefore without the reissue of the licences, and with pheasant and red-legged partridge remaining on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in respect of SACs and SPAs, the release of these birds in those areas is currently an offence. We are still several months from the first birds being released, but such uncertainty causes serious problems for those on shoots affected by this regulation. Those problems have been a recurring headache for several years as licensing structures change with concerning frequency. Jobs and family livelihoods are on the line because of this political indecision.

Along with other shooting organisations, the Countryside Alliance has been engaging with the Defra gamebird licensing team and has recently voiced its concerns to the Minister responsible for the issuing of these licences. The licence that covers SACs, GL43, should be published in the near future, but there can be little excuse for the tardiness of its release. GL45, which covered a variable number of SPAs in 2024, is believed to be slightly further away, with uncertainty over avian influenza cited as the root of delays. Indeed recent indications cast doubt over whether GL45 will be published at all. If the Minister chooses not to issue GL45, affected shoots would have to have to apply for an individual licence, which require a significantly higher amount paperwork and hoop-jumping, at short notice, again putting pressure on livelihoods, families, communities and conservation efforts, as well as creating an extra burden for the licensors and the taxpayer.

The last six months has seen the countryside come under mounting fire from ministers on numerous occasions, most recently with the cliff-edge closure of the Sustainable Farming Initiative, which the government announced with no notice, rather than with the six-week notice they had said would be given. With a lack of chronic ministerial disengagement, the shooting sector is right to be concerned with the current limbo regarding the issuing of GL43 and GL45; the Minister’s response to the shooting organisations’ letter cannot come too soon.