Quote:
Originally Posted by Ledbury  Dear All,
I will need to apply for a DEFRA licence for a building in which one brown long eared bat has been known to roost. for this I am quoted £3500 inc VAt but from experience this number can easily double or more when mitigation and associated site vists are included. This is about half of the previous cost as I have a licence for another building on site as so much of the paperwork is identical.
Can anyone give me an indication whether this is about right? Although I find the idea abhorrant, it seems that these costs effectively encourage developpers etc to destroy bat habitats as the maximum fines compare favourably with the costs of mitigation!!
any feedback appreciated!!
As an aside, I have been asked by my local MP to collect data on the practical implementation of the Habitats Directive as it pertains to bats in order to assess whether the current system is optimal for achieving its stated aims i.e. their protection and enhancement. any experiences good or bad and suggestions welcome.
Many thanks. |
Dear Ledbury,
Can I ask - who has told you that you will need a 'Defra' licence? In the first case it is not a Defra licence but a Natural England(NE) licence-so I suggest your informant may not be up to date.
Without knowing more about your case it would seem that you informant is baseing their advice on a historical record. It would be worth having a licensed bat ecologist to have a look at the site and make an assessment.
Natural England do not want to be clogging up their intrays with expensive licence applications if there is an alternative. So I suggest you get a licensed ecologist to have a look and then talk to NE about working methods. NE may be happy with a method statement(produced by licensed ecologist) describing how you will carry out the work and what mitigation you will put in place. If the two buildings you mention are close by and the other building holds a small number of bats NE may agree to you putting both buildings on one method statement.
Does the current system work - Im disillusioned with all of it! I am currently involved on a site where everyone and their dog is involved, paying for costly surveys, ticking lots of boxes, writing mitigation plans - but no one checks any of it!!! Species that are massively declining will be lost-but all the boxes will have been ticked thousands upon thousands spent
. The whole area of wildlife law needs properly policing.
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