Statutory guidance

Licence to interfere with badger setts for watercourse and drainage purposes (CL27)

Updated 11 July 2024

Applies to England

Class licence CL27: interference with badger setts* for the purpose of undertaking water course or drainage maintenance operations.

Overview

This licence permits interference with badger (meles meles) setts where there is a need to conduct routine watercourse or drainage maintenance operations such as vegetation cutting, bank reforming, or culvert clearance.

Only employees or contractors of the Internal Drainage Boards are entitled to register to use this licence.

This licence cannot be relied upon where a badger sett is causing problems in flood defences and reservoir dams. These situations should be referred to the Environment Agency for action in accordance with their internal operational guidance.

Registration: Anyone wishing to use this licence must first apply to Natural England to be registered.

Recording and reporting: There are data recording and annual reporting requirements.

Reference: WML – CL27.

Legislation

Statute(s): Protection of Badgers Act 1992 (‘the 1992 Act’).

Section(s): This licence is issued under section 10(2)(d).

Licence terms and conditions

Valid for the period: 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 (inclusive).

Area valid in: All counties of England (landward of the mean low water mark).

Purpose(s) for which this licence is issued: This licence can only be used for any operation (whether by virtue of the Land Drainage Act 1991 or otherwise) to either:

• maintain or improve any existing watercourse or drainage works

• construct new works required for the drainage of any land, including works for the purpose of defence against sea water or tidal water

What this licence permits

Subject to all the terms and conditions of this licence and solely for the purposes stated above, this licence permits Registered Persons and their Assistants to interfere with a badger (meles meles) sett by means of:

• cutting bank vegetation with hand tools or a tractor mounted flail (or both)
• cutting bank vegetation and processing with a purpose-built harvester
• cutting mid-channel vegetation with a 360° excavator
• reforming banks with a 360° excavator*
• desilting drainage beds with a 360° excavator*
• maintaining low-level drainage culverts with a 360° excavator

*Bank reformation and desilting operations must not be conducted during February, March or April as per licence condition 11.

Who can use this licence

This licence can only be used by Registered Persons* and their Assistants* except those convicted on or after 1 January 2010 of a wildlife crime* unless, in respect of that offence, either:

• they are a rehabilitated person for the purposes of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and their conviction is treated as spent, or

• a court has made an order discharging them absolutely

Any application by a person to whom this exclusion applies for an individual licence will be considered on its merits.

*see Definitions

Definitions used in this licence

“Registered Person” is an employee or contractor of the Internal Drainage Board, and who has successfully registered to use this licence in accordance with Condition 13a.

“Assistant” is a person assisting a Registered Person. Assistants are only authorised to act under this licence whilst they are under the direct supervision of the Registered Person.

“Wildlife crime” means any offence under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, the Deer Act 1991, the Hunting Act 2004, the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Protection of Animals Act 1911 (all as amended) or the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019.

“Badger sett” is defined by the 1992 Act as “any structure or place which displays signs indicating current use by a badger”. Examples of signs that may indicate ‘current use’ include entrances that are greater than 25cm in diameter with a flattened oval appearance, entrances that are clear of debris and vegetation, entrances with smoothed sides (due to the passage of badgers), large spoil heaps (sometimes fresh) outside entrances, fresh bedding outside entrances, fresh badger footprints in spoil heaps, and well trampled runs leading to and from entrances. See Advice and Information note b. for further guidance on interpretation of ‘current use’ of a badger sett.

Licence conditions

1. Before undertaking any action at a site under this licence, the licensee must notify Natural England by telephone or email of the name and location of the site. Notice must be given at least 2 working days in advance of the action being taken.

2. Tractors and excavators must operate from the opposite bank to that occupied by the badger sett (see Definitions for the definition of a sett) unless this is not feasible or practicable. If operating from the bank occupied by the sett is unavoidable, then only tracked machinery may be used in the sett area.

3. Tractors and excavators must not drive directly over badger sett entrances.
   
   Vegetation cutting
   
   
4. Any cut vegetation in sett entrances that is likely to prevent access to the sett by a badger, must be removed at the end of each day’s work.
   
   
5. Vegetation from the mid-channel must not be placed over sett entrances but must be placed at least 5 metres from sett entrances to avoid obstructing access by badgers.
   
   
6. During vegetation cutting, it is not permissible to damage or obstruct access to water vole (Arvicola amphibius, previously known as Arvicola terrestris) burrows or disturb water voles while they are using such places unless permitted to do so under licence by Natural England (see Information and Advice note c).
   
   Bank reformation and desilting
   
   
7. Prior to bank reformation, badger sett entrances must be temporarily plugged with straw-filled (or similar material) hessian or paper sacks to prevent the associated tunnel becoming blocked with soil.
   
   
8. Where it is necessary to dig into the badger sett to achieve the desired bank profile or channel width the excavation of sett tunnels must be limited to the minimum required to achieve the required profile or channel width. Following re-profiling, badgers must be able to freely access and exit sett entrances.
   
   
9. Excavated soil from the bank and silt from the channel must be placed at least five metres from the sett entrance(s) to avoid obstructing access by badgers.
   
   
10. At the end of each day’s work, the hessian or paper sacks must be removed from the badger sett entrances and the tunnels left unobstructed.
    
    
11. These operations must not be conducted during the months of February, March or April so as to avoid the most sensitive period of the badger breeding season.
    
    Low-level culverts
    
    
12. If low-level culverts are to be installed within drainage channels where excavated spoil from a badger sett is blocking the flow of water, the culvert must be installed below the level of the lowest sett entrance.
    
    Authorised persons
    
    
13. To use this licence you must either:
    
    a. Register with Natural England to use the licence (see Information and Advice notes e - i)
    
    b. Be authorised by a Registered Person to act as an Assistant (see Definitions), in which case you may act under the authority of this licence so long as you are doing so under the direct supervision of a Registered Person.
    
    
14. The Registered Person is responsible for all activities carried out under this licence, including activities carried out by their Assistants.
    
    
15. All persons using this licence must possess appropriate knowledge and experience of the relevant species (see Information and Advice note d).
    
    
16. Whilst engaged in work permitted by this licence all persons registered or authorised to act under this licence must have access to a copy of this licence and produce it to any police officer or any Natural England officer on demand.
    
    Recording and reporting requirements
    
    
17. The Registered Person must maintain a record, which must be kept for at least 24 months beyond the expiry date of this licence, in accordance with the requirements of Annex A. Records are to be made available for inspection at any reasonable time by Natural England.
    
    
18. The Registered Person must comply with the reporting requirements specified in Annex A. Reports, including ‘nil’ returns, must be submitted for the period 1 January to 31 December by no later than 31 January of the following year.
    
    
19. If Conditions 17 and 18 are not met then the Registered Person will, by default, no longer be considered registered to act under this licence.

Important

This licence authorises acts that would otherwise be offences under the legislation referred to above. Failure to comply with its terms and conditions:

i. may be an offence against the 1992 Act or mean that the licence cannot be relied upon and an offence could therefore be committed. The maximum penalty available for an offence under the 1992 Act is, at the time of the issue of this licence, an unlimited fine and/or a six month custodial sentence

ii. may result in your permission to use this licence being withdrawn. Natural England will inform any person or organisation whose permission to use this licence is withdrawn in writing. This sanction may be applied to other similar licences, and

iii. may mean that you are not able to rely on this licence as a defence in respect to the prohibitions within the Animal Welfare Act 2006 or the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996

If the activity that you wish to undertake is not covered by this licence, or if you are unable to comply with any of the terms and conditions which apply to the use of this licence, then you will need to apply to Natural England for an individual licence.

This licence is not a consent for the purposes of Part II of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) in respect to SSSIs. It is your responsibility to get consent or assent if required before this licence can be used on any SSSI. See Advice (o - q) for further information.

Issued by and on behalf of Natural England on 1 January 2024.

Information and advice specific to this licence

Coronavirus – Best practice

To avoid transmitting COVID-19 from people to wild mammals, you should: stay at least 2 metres from live wild mammals at all times; only capture or handle live wild mammals if necessary; and avoid going within 2 metres of known breeding or regularly used resting sites of mammals. If you cannot follow these guidelines, then you should minimise the time spent in close proximity and handling mammals; limit the number of people that come into close proximity or handle mammals; and keep animals separate from other individuals as far as possible.

i. Persons acting under this licence should follow good hygiene practices, including wearing of disposable gloves, or clean and disinfected non-disposable gloves; wearing a face covering when handling and in close proximity to any mammal; and washing hands before and after close proximity or handling of any mammal. Face coverings, non-disposable gloves and overalls or other clothing should be washed or disinfected between uses when handling mammals.

ii. You should not carry out activities under this licence if you feel unwell, test positive for COVID-19 or live with someone who has or might have COVID-19.

iii. Any products used to clean and disinfect equipment should be safe for use where there could be contact with animals and used at an effective and safe dilution rate. ‘Safe4’ is considered to be an appropriate disinfectant for this purpose and is considered effective against the virus at a dilution of 1:50. Other products can be used to clean and disinfect equipment.

Operational guidance

a. Placing straw-filled hessian or paper sacks into badger sett tunnels during operations reduces the likelihood of encountering badgers and ensures that the tunnel can be located in the event of a collapse. To reduce the risk of injury to badgers, the excavator bucket must never dig beyond the sack. If it is necessary to excavate beyond the sack, the sack must be removed (by hand) and the tunnel inspected with a bright torch to ascertain the tunnel layout. Provided the tunnel does not branch and no badgers are present, the sack must be replaced to arm’s-length and the process repeated until the desired bank profile or channel width is achieved.

b. The following relevant guidance is available:

• guidance on what constitutes ‘disturbance’ to badgers in their setts (WML-G16)

• guidance on ‘current use’ of a badger sett (WML-G17)

c. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) it is an offence to:

(i) intentionally kill, injure or take a water vole

(ii) intentionally or recklessly damage, destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place which water voles use for shelter or protection and

(iii) disturb water voles while they are using such a place. Licences are available from Natural England to permit activities that would otherwise be unlawful for specific purposes such as conserving flora and fauna

Training requirement

d. Training applicable to the activities permitted by the licence should be undertaken at regular intervals. It is the responsibility of each Registered Person to maintain their expertise at an appropriate level to act under this licence and it is also the Registered Person’s responsibility to ensure that Assistants have appropriate training, experience and instruction, including in mitigation measures commonly employed, to act under this licence.

Registering to use this licence

e. Only Registered Persons, or persons authorised or supervised by a Registered Person (see Condition 13), may act under this licence. Anyone seeking to become a Registered Person must apply to Natural England. Applications can be submitted by email or post (contact details below). Applicants must be employed by or contracted to work for the internal drainage boards. Applicants contracted to work for the internal drainage boards must provide the name and contact details for a drainage board member of staff.

f. To stay registered, each year (no later than 31 January) the Registered User must: 

1. complete the ‘Licence Report Form’, even if no licensed action is taken 
2. confirm if they wish to continue to be registered

Failure to comply with the terms and conditions, including the recording and reporting requirements, will, by default, render registration null and void.

g. Anyone seeking to confirm whether a person is registered to use this licence should contact Natural England Wildlife Licensing (contact details below).

h. A person’s registration may be revoked by Natural England, for example, if that person breaches the conditions of this licence. In these circumstances Natural England will normally give 28 days’ notice of our intention to revoke a person’s registration.

i. Registration to use this licence to interfere with a badger sett is taken as a statement that the Registered Person has an appropriate level of competence in these activities. The licence should not be used or taken to indicate competence in any other activity that may be associated with work affecting badgers (for example, for the purposes of any other activity for which an individual licence is required – contact Natural England Wildlife Licensing).

Information and advice for all class and general licences

j. Natural England checks compliance with licences and the attached conditions. Where breaches are identified, these may be subject to enforcement action.

k. Ordinarily, licences will be reissued on 1 January each year ( you do not need to re-register for those with registration requirements). Please note, however, that they can be modified or revoked at any time by Natural England or the Secretary of State, but this will not be done unless there are good reasons for doing so. You are advised to check the terms and conditions of a licence prior to your first use of it each year in case of amendments.

The limits of licences

l. Licences permit action only for the purposes specified on that licence.

m. Licences do not permit actions prohibited under any other legislation, nor do they confer any right of entry upon land.

n. Unless otherwise stated the provisions of Natural England licences only apply landward of the mean low water mark in England. The Marine Management Organisation is responsible for all licensing seaward of the mean low water mark.

Protected sites

o. You can search for and view details about all sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) by using Natural England’s Designated Sites system. The notification documents for each SSSI contain a list of operations that require Natural England’s prior consent. Owners and occupiers of land notified as SSSIs are required to give written notice to Natural England before either beginning any of these operations, or allowing someone else to carry out those operations. SSSI consent can only be given to a SSSI owner or occupier. It may be given with or without conditions, or in some cases, consent may not be granted. A similar process applies to public bodies and statutory undertakers (as defined under Section 28G of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)) and this obligation applies even where the operations are carried out on land outside of the SSSI.

p. Please note that as the licensee you will not be able to undertake the licensed activity on a SSSI until the owner or occupier of the SSSI has applied for, and received, Natural England’s written SSSI consent. If you do so, you may be at risk of committing an offence. As the licensee, if you wish to exercise this licence on a SSSI you must contact the relevant owners or occupiers of the SSSI and ensure they give written notice to Natural England of their proposal to permit you to carry out licensed activity on their SSSI. You should wait until a SSSI consent decision has been received by the SSSI owner/occupier before you begin to exercise this licence on a SSSI. See GOV.UK for further information on how to get SSSI consent from Natural England.

q. In considering whether to issue consent or assent for activities likely to affect a SSSI that is a European site, in other words a Special Protection Area (SPA) or Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Natural England will carry out a Habitats Regulations Assessment, as required by the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended) (‘the Habitats Regulations’) to ensure there will be no adverse effects on the European site.

Using and sharing your information

r. There is significant public interest in wildlife licensing and in those who benefit from receiving a wildlife licence. We may make information publicly available, for more information, please see our privacy notice.

Contact Natural England for licensing enquiries

Telephone: 020 802 61089

Email: wildlife@naturalengland.org.uk

Wildlife Licensing, Operations Delivery
Natural England
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

For other enquiries use the Enquiry Service.

Telephone: 0300 060 3900

Email: enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

Annex A - Recording and reporting requirements

Records

Each Registered Person must maintain, and keep for at least 24 months beyond the expiry date of this licence, a record of the following information for each watercourse or drainage maintenance operation conducted using this licence (this also includes water course or drainage maintenance operations conducted by Assistants acting under their authority):

• date the badger sett was interfered with
• type of water course or drainage maintenance operation, and
• location (administrative area and a 6-figure Ordnance Survey grid reference)

Reporting

A report, detailing the information stipulated above, including ‘nil’ returns, must be sent by each Registered Person to Natural England Wildlife Licensing (at the address given above) for the reporting period 1 January to 31 December no later than 31 January of the following year. Use the Report actions taken under licences CL26 and CL27 form.

Commercial confidentiality

If you encounter difficulties releasing data due to client confidentiality restrictions then you are advised to remind your client that it is a condition of using this licence that licensing information is reported. Furthermore, the licence may only be used if this condition is met.

To help avoid such difficulties, it is recommended that your contractual terms and conditions make it clear that submitting records to Natural England and other bodies specified in licences is a legal requirement. If a client is not prepared to accept such terms and conditions then you may not use this licence without the prior permission of Natural England Wildlife Licensing.

WML-CL27 [version January 2024]