BPCA had originally advised members that if they could wait for the appropriate general licence to be released, they should.
However, now it seems we could be experiencing a longer wait, we’re advising that anyone who needs to control wild birds in the near future should apply for individual licences.
The process is as follows:
Apply for individual licences
Natural England has said:
“Anybody who needs to act within the law to control wild birds before the licence they need is ready can rely on a simple online application system for individual licences.
“This went live on Thursday evening (25 April)”.
Once you’ve applied for a licence, that licence will cover you for the bird species and the reason for control in all instance in England.
That means you don’t need a new licence every time you start a job, as long as it’s not for a different species or reason not covered in your existing licence (until the end of the year).
Apply now
If you need to kill birds before you get a licence
Pest management professionals will normally have to carry out lethal control before getting a confirmed licence back from Natural England.
The process for this seems to be:
- Exhaust all non-lethal control measures
- Submit an application for an individual licence through Natural England website (available here)
- Conduct the lethal control of the wild bird (even if your license hasn't been determined)
- Notify Natural England as soon as possible about what you’ve done and why (birds2019@naturalengland.org.uk).
Once you’ve applied for a licence, that licence will cover you for the bird species and the reason for control in all instance in England.
That means you don’t need a new licence every time you start a job, as long as it’s not for a different species or reason not covered in your existing licence (until the end of the year).
We can’t stress enough that you must have followed and satisfied all of the required steps for each individual case.
The Natural England website states:
“If you require lethal control to be carried out before the determination of your licence application then you may not commit an offence provided that you do the following.
“You must be able to show that your action is necessary for the purpose of:
- “preserving public health or public safety or air safety;
- “preventing the spread of disease; or
- “preventing serious damage to livestock, their foodstuffs, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters. You must also be able to show that there was no other satisfactory solution available for preventing such serious damage.
“In addition, you must have submitted the relevant application for a licence for the relevant purpose above and notified Natural England.
“If action is taken to prevent serious damage outlined above, Natural England must be notified as soon as reasonably practical after you have taken the action. This can be done by sending an email to birds2019@naturalengland.org.uk.
BPCA will send out updates on this story as it happens.
STILL CONFUSED?
BPCA free webinar on General licences for bird control - update and next steps: 26 June 2019, 12:30.
More information
Source: Online