In light of the legal challenge by Wild Justice, Natural England concluded that the licences were issued without us being lawfully satisfied about the absence of other satisfactory solutions as required by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Once Natural England reached this conclusion we had no choice but to revoke these licences.
The 3 licences subject to the challenge cover 16 bird species, including several members of the crow family (crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws and jays), feral and wood pigeon and number of invasive non-native species (like the Canada goose).
The three general licences were revoked at 23.59 on Thursday 25 April.
Before issuing these licences, Natural England must be satisfied that there are no satisfactory alternative solutions to lethal control. Wild Justice argued that Natural England failed to satisfy itself of this. It also argued that, through a condition in the general licences which requires users to be satisfied that appropriate legal methods of resolving the problem such as scaring and proofing are either ineffective or impracticable, Natural England and previously Defra had left this decision to the licence user.
From 23.59 on 25 April onwards the three general licences above cease. Users will have one of three options:
Anyone exercising lethal control of birds after 25 April without taking the above steps will not be covered by a general licence and could be acting outside the law.
Natural England is undertaking licensing assessments that would support general licensing of lethal control of specific bird species in defined situations, such as preventing serious damage to livestock from carrion crows and to preserve public health and safety from the impacts of feral pigeons. We are prioritising circumstance which are likely to be of the greatest need and impact at this time of year. We intend to start issuing these licences on gov.uk from the 29 April or sooner. We have provided a timetable to show which we intend to have ready by when. We encourage people to look first at gov.uk if they need to act.
Not if there is a general licence available: look first at gov.uk to see if your circumstances are covered by one of the new licences. If the action you want to take is not covered by an existing licence published on gov.uk and you cannot wait for one that is due to be issued you will need to apply for an individual licence.
The online application system for individual licences is available on gov.uk from the afternoon of Thursday 25 April.
Unfortunately, no, the law does not allow for a grace period.
The timescales dictated by the need to respond to the legal challenge dictated that we had a very short timetable in which to remove the three licences. This, combined with the rigorous legal and technical work required to create robust new licences, has made it impossible to provide a smooth transition from old licences to new. Natural England is working very hard to ensure there is as small a gap between the two as possible.
This work in relation to the three general licences will form the first part of a wider review of general and class licensing by Natural England, due to be completed this year. We will be consulting stakeholders fully to ensure that the outcome of the review includes their feedback, expertise and evidence. We will provide more detail about the review in the summer.
All wild bird species in the UK are legally protected, even common species and those that some people consider to be 'pests'. Therefore, lethal control can only be carried out lawfully under a licence from the relevant statutory conservation agency (Natural England in England).
Natural England isn't changing the law. These birds are fully protected and have been since 1981. The law recognises that some birds can cause problems and allows people to take action under a licence for legitimate purposes subject to strict conditions. The legal challenge means Natural England need to change how these licences are issued. The legal status of the birds remains unchanged.
It remains lawful to shoot Canada geese, which is listed on Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, without a licence outside the close season. This is not affected by the changes to these 3 general licences. The close season for geese and other wildfowl species is 21 February – 31 August (inclusive) below the high-water mark of ordinary spring tides and 1 February - 31 August elsewhere.
First introduced by MAFF and DETR (Dept of Env, Transport and the Regions) in the 1990s, general licences are used for frequently licensed activities that carry a low risk to the conservation or welfare of a protected species. They seek to strike a proportionate balance between the need to minimise burdens on those who need to manage species without impacting on their welfare or conservation status. Unlike individual licences, users do not need to apply for a general licence or report on its use, but they must comply with the terms of the licence. The use of general licences is provided for in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Natural England estimates there may be at least 50,000 people who rely on these licences. This includes farmers, game keepers, pest controllers, local authorities and conservation organisations.