What the Expansion of District Level Licensing Means for Developers

Natural England is rapidly expanding the areas where District Level Licencing (DLL) can be used if Great Crested Newts (GCN) are found on or near a development site.

You may be familiar with the “traditional” approach to licencing, involving a period of surveys, fencing, newt trapping and pond creation.

The purpose of the district-level scheme is to channel funds towards the creation of ponds in areas where GCN will benefit the most whilst also speeding up the process of licencing and development. If you have GCN on site, you will still need a licence, but where the district-level scheme is in place, you have the option of contributing to an off-site pond creation scheme, avoiding the need for detailed surveys and trapping schemes.

Where is District-Level Licencing Available?

Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Kent and Medway, Leicestershire (except Blaby), Leicester City, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Rushcliffe and South Kesteven, Shropshire, Somerset (excluding the former West Somerset district and Exmoor National Park), Suffolk, Swindon, Wiltshire and Woking.

The ultimate goal is to make District Level Licensing available throughout England.

Who runs the DLL Schemes?

Natural England runs many District Level Licensing schemes but can outsource the pond creation aspects. Some DLL schemes are run by Local Authorities and some by NGO’s, notably Nature Space.

What are the pros and cons of DLL to developers?

Pros:

Simple & quick to apply for and implement.
GCN surveys are not necessarily required.
No time constraints to construction activities.
No requirement to exclude GCN from your site.
No requirement to provide on-site mitigation.
Enables better forward planning with a fixed cost from the start.
No risk of delay to programme as a result of finding GCN late in the exclusion process.

Cons:

Not currently available everywhere in England and unlikely to be introduced in Wales or Scotland.
Even where DLL is an option, the approach is not always available due to a lack of available mitigation ponds.
If development is in a GCN hotspot, DLL cannot be used.
Where multiple ponds need to be created, it can be much more expensive than a traditional mitigation approach.
Where replacement ponds are required there is a requirement to pay 28% upfront on signing of the payment certificate (Natural England schemes only).

What is our advice to clients?

Engage with a TEP ecologist who can advise on the licensing options available on a site by site basis.
Consider the use of District Licensing early in the site planning process.
Enquire to Natural England/Nature Space early to ensure they can facilitate your scheme.
Designing GCN specific mitigation into a Site Plan is not required with the use of District Licensing. However, there may still be Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements to be met, and mitigation for other protected species.

Case study of District Level Licencing

Full planning approval was granted on appeal in October 2019, for a ca 200 house residential development in Cheshire.

A small population of GCN were identified in one off-site pond. TEP’s client, one of the UK’s leading housebuilders, wanted to start on site as soon as possible following planning approval. However, as the appeal was granted in winter months, under a traditional licensing approach, trapping could not commence until the following March or April 2020 due to the hibernation season.

TEP produced a GCN mitigation strategy that was specifically worded so that the new DLL approach could be used without the need for discussions with the Local Planning Authority ecologist, avoiding potential delays.

Under the DLL scheme, the client made a one-off payment to cover the cost of creating an off-site GCN pond and terrestrial habitat. The cost was approximately £10,000 more than a traditional licensing approach. However, the District Level Licensing enabled our client to start on site as soon as the licence was issued, in February 2020; a traditional approach may have delayed the start until May 2020. In this instance, the three month time saving more than compensated for the one-off pond creation cost, and the county GCN population benefitted from the additional habitat in an optimum area.

If you would like to discuss any District Level Licensing enquiries, please contact our ecology team by emailing ecology@tep.uk.com.

To discover more from our ecologists click here.