• European Protected Species Licences: England

European Protected Species Licences: England

Changes to European Protected Species Licences (ESPL)

Several important changes to the EPSL system have been made in the past 12 months many of which have come from feedback provided by consultants.

Notification letters

The first key changes included the rebranding of the ‘minded to refuse letters’ to a ‘Further Information Request’.  At the same time, and potentially more important, a commitment was made by Natural England to provide an early notification of a ‘not satisfied’ decision made on the Favourable Conservation Status test (FCS).  In the past the decision on the FCS was made by the wildlife adviser at Natural England and sent to the licensing team in Bristol who then make a decision on the whole licence.

The change will now mean that the wildlife adviser will copy the named ecologist in to the ‘not satisfied’ report email and as of 1st November 2010, the named ecologist is allowed to contact the wildlife adviser directly to discuss the information required to meet the FCS test.  The advantage of this is that changes to the Method Statement, which deals with the FCS, can be started prior to a decision on the full licence application being made.

Important points to note on this are that if the FCS test has been met, the named ecologist will not be copied in to the email as a successful FCS test is no guarantee to the other two tests (relating to purpose and no satisfactory alternative) being successful.  It is also important to note that, although changes can be made to the Method Statement following receipt of the unsatisfactory FCS test report, the revised method statement cannot be submitted until a full decision on the licence has been made. It should then be submitted to the Licensing unit and not the wildlife adviser.

Mitigation and monitoring

Another key change is the inclusion of the mitigation and monitoring period in the licensed period.  This change applies to any new EPSL application made after 1st December 2010 and any EPSL granted prior to this date but that is resubmitted for modification.