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Badger disturbance
Dec 23, 2009
New guidance has been published by Natural England, essential for anyone considering work close to a badger sett. Previously we had a "rule of thumb" guidance, which laid out how many metres from a sett certain activities (such as excavation with a machine) could be done without needing to obtain a licence. Natural England have changed this, and published what appears to be much more flexible guidance. It can be downloaded at www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/WMLG16_tcm6-11814.pdf
On the face of it, it gives support to developers or landowners who wish to conduct work near a sett, as it sets out in writing that badgers are tolerant of disturbance. However, in reality what this means is that it is up to the developer (or his/her ecologist) to decide what activities are likely to cause disturbance (and therefore need a licence). Just how close can a JCB go to sett without causing disturbance, for example? Short of putting cameras down the sett, we may need to go back to the old rules of thumb in order to ensure that out clients cannot be found to be committing an offence. As we all know, objectors to development will always focus on protected species, and developers need to remain aware of their legal position where any such species (normally bats, badgers, barn owls and great crested newts) may be present.
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