Badgers: licence for internal drainage boards to interfere with setts for drainage operations (CL27)
Get a licence to interfere with badger setts for the purpose of undertaking watercourse or drainage maintenance operations.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This licence can only be used by employees or contractors of the internal drainage boards.
This licence allows you to interfere with badger setts for the purpose of conducting the following watercourse or drainage maintenance operations:
- cutting bank vegetation with hand tools or a tractor-mounted flail
- cutting bank vegetation and processing it with a purpose-built harvester
- cutting mid-channel vegetation with a 360 degree excavator
- reforming banks with a 360 degree excavator
- desilting drainage beds with a 360 degree excavator
- maintaining low-level drainage culverts with a 360 degree excavator
The licence cannot be used to interfere with badger setts that are causing problems in flood defences and reservoir dams.
Register to use this licence
This is a class licence. You need to notify Natural England in writing that you wish to use it. You must be eligible to register for this licence, that is be employed or contracted to work for the internal drainage boards.
If you’re working on behalf of an internal drainage board, you’ll also need to provide the name and contact details for a drainage board member of staff who can confirm that you’re a contractor working for them.
Write to or email:
Wildlife licensing
Natural England
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH
Email wildlife@naturalengland.org.uk
Telephone 020 8026 1089
How to report your actions
You must send an annual record of any watercourse or drainage maintenance operations conducted under this licence to Natural England by 31 January each year. You should send your report using this licence report form.
Sending an annual report also renews your registration to use this licence.
Updates to this page
Last updated 11 July 2024 + show all updates
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Updated to advise that bank reformation and desilting operations must not be conducted during February, March or April. Also updated to advise that to register to use this licence you can submit an application by email or post. To stay registered, each year you must complete the licence report form and confirm that you want to stay registered. A link to the report form has been added.
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There is an update to this licence for 1 January 2024.
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Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2023.
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Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2022.
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Annual licence update.
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Accessible version of licence added - HTML.
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Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2020
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Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2019
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Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2018
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Annual licence update 2017.
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Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2016.
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new version of CL27 valid from 1 January to 31 December 2015.
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First published.