Advice about planning applications / saving the wildlife.

[hedgehog whisperer]

Hi All,
I need a bit of advice, and I know that you are the people to help me. In other threads, I have mentioned the plot of land behind my parent’s house. This land is not pretty, more scrub land really, nevertheless, it does have quite a few endangered / listed animals living on it, such as crested newts, Common Toad, Slow Worms, Hedgehogs to name but a few. When I was young there were even Adders living there. However, this is going back about 15 years and this cannot be confirmed now.

The local council has received a proposal to build 236 houses on this land. Under the section “impact on nature conservation” the planning application mentions that a number of surveys have been carried out and consultation with “relevant parties”. In addition, that it proposes to move the reptiles to a nearby receptor site, this would be carried out under licence.

Therefore, my questions are

What exactly does under licence mean?

Can anyone advise who these relevant parties might be?

Is there anyone independent I can contact to ensure this does happen as the developers have advised it will happen?

[Chiltern Chris]

Hi

The licences will come from Natural England. The relevant parties are dependant on what's actually on the site and which consents and licences are needed from other organisations.

I know Wycombe quite well, if you let me know which site it is (I presume it's on Wycombe's planning portal) I'll have a quick look.

Chris

[svenrufus]

Check with your local wildlife trust as they may well already be on top of objecting to the proposed development, and could give you a steer as to how you could help out with whatever gaps in the campaign that there might be.
Good luck

[hedgehog whisperer]

Thanks for both of these suggestions I will look into them. The land is in Whitstable Kent, thanks anyway.

[Cotham Marble]

As ChilternChris has said:

>The licences will come from Natural England. The relevant parties are dependant on what's actually on the site and which consents and licences are needed from other organisations.<

In effect what is likely to happen is that the Developer will sub contract the wildlife work to a recognised business which will be the Licence applicant - in this case a Licence to remove.

Your best bet is to contact either of the two 'Conservation partners' listed by Canterbury Council at: The Development Check List


Contact 1: Kent Wildlife Trust English Nature
Organisation: Kent Wildlife Trust, Tyland Barn, Sandling, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 3BD
Tel No: 01622 662 012
E-Mail: See website
Website: corporates

Contact 2: English Nature
Organisation: English Nature, Coldharbour Farm, Amage Road, Wye, Ashford, Kent, TN25 5DB
Tel No: 01233 812 525
E-Mail: kent@english-nature.org.uk
Website: Natural England

CM

[hedgehog whisperer]

Brilliant thanks

[nightshade]

You should be able to read the survey results at your local council offices
I recently queried a bat survey as they had "missed some" that I knew about
which is why bat (and other wildlife) sightings should be reported along with photos if possible to the local council/bat group or even Natural England
Relocation or mitigation is useful,and preferable to disappearing forever

[honeybee]

...but sadly relocation isnt always successful for the animal and personally I think they shouldn't be moved but hey we need millions more houses right

[hedgehog whisperer]

I have been on the council website and could not find the survey results. I have contacted the council to see if they can send it to me. I would like to get someone do their own evaluation. I’ll contact the wildlife trust for that area and see what they say.

I think the planning permission sadly is a dead cert, all we can do is to hope that the re-homing is done as symmetrically as possible.