Consultation on General and Class licences under wildlife legislation in England

Overview

Natural England is seeking views on a number of proposals and topics relating to the General and Class Licences issued under wildlife legislation. These licences are periodically reviewed, and Natural England consults with stakeholders and the general public on proposed changes and seeks views on broader topics.The themes of this consultation include:

• the management of conflict species;
• the trapping and welfare of animals;
• sale, exhibition and possession of protected species;
• improving compliance with the licences;
• changes related to obligations under the EU Birds Directive.

This consultation will be of interest to anyone who uses a General or Class Licence, and organisations representing the interests of licence users and/or protected species.

The consultation starts on Monday 24 February 2014 and closes at 5:00pm Monday 19 May 2014.

What happens next

 All consultation responses will be considered in reaching our final decision on the proposals. We recognise that some of the proposals represent substantive changes to current licensing arrangements and in view of this, if adopted, there will be a suitable period of time to communicate the changes prior to their implementation.

The date that changes following this consultation will be implemented has not yet been decided, but the most likely launch date is 1 January 2015.