1. Great crested newt district level licensing [Update 27June 2017]
At last year’s event, I reported NE’s view that the system of wildlife licensing had to change. There was no alternative. It was not affordable within foreseeable constraints on the public purse, it was not delivering enough conservation benefit and it was damaging the reputation of nature conservation and in particular the strict protection provided by the Habitats Regulations.
No single species embodies this imperative more than GCN
Subsequently, I attended a conference set up by ARC, which showed that there is lots of worthy thinking about GCN but no radical solution, which would reverse the steady decline of this species. The opportunity which stood out for this species was the Better Regulation Agenda. This presented the possibility of redirecting the huge investment made by the development industry in measures required by licensing into something more positive.

2. District level licensing stages
Evidence gathering - eDNA, HSI, collation of existing data, modelling
Strategy formulation – Impact assessment of district plan, avoidance and mitigation advice to LPA, habitat compensation areas of search
Habitat compensation - habitat creation, enhancement and maintenance
Administration - Organisational licence, development site authorisations, managing developer contributions, monitoring, review of licences

3. Benefits of district licensing
More influence on the planning system
Better protection of the most important sites
More, better, more securely protected habitat provision
Improved knowledge of GCN status

4. National roll out of district licensing
150 districts
April March 2020
Year 1 15 districts (Warwickshire - 7; Kent - 6 and Cheshire - 2)
Year 2 65 districts
Year districts
Replace 77% of current licensing

5. GCN new licence applications 2015 and 2016

6. Budget forecast Set up - £7m Business as usual £2m eDNA and HSI
£2.4m strategy formulation
£1.5m habitat management
£1m securing land
£37K data from ARGs
[and £1.2 LPA staff time]
Business as usual
£13.5m habitat management and monitoring
£3m securing land
£0.7m LPA