Government badger control costs 2017
Updated 7 September 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-government-badger-control-costs/government-badger-control-costs-2017
1. Background
On 11 September 2017, Defra published, as part of its measured approach to tackling bovine TB and achieving disease control benefits, Natural England’s authorisations to local farmers and landowners to carry out targeted badger control in parts of Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire and Herefordshire.
Operations took place between 6 September and 28 October 2017.
2. Badger control costs
Information on costs to government in 2013 to 2017 is provided in Table 1 below.
| Badger control costs | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing and compliance monitoring | £859,000 | £1,036,000 | £1,003,000 | £1,284,000 | £1,289,000 |
| Humaneness monitoring, including post mortems | £2,628,000 | £1,515,000 | £154,000 | £392,000 | £506,000 |
| Efficacy monitoring | £2,311,000 | £17,000 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Advice and assessments | £389,000 | £294,000 | £460,000 | £646,000 | £728,000 |
| Other costs, including equipment | £107,000 | £205,000 | £162,000 | £53,000 | £49,000 |
| Total cost | £6,294,000 | £3,067,000 | £1,779,000 | £2,375,000 | £2,572,000 |
Information and data on badger control monitoring in Gloucestershire, Cheshire, Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire and Herefordshire in 2017 is available.
3. Badger control policing costs funded by Defra
| Force | Total 2017 | |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Hub | Avon and Somerset | £2,785,273 |
| Devon and Cornwall | ||
| Dorset | ||
| Wiltshire | ||
| Northern Hub | Cheshire | £1,261,288 |
| Gloucestershire | ||
| Warwickshire | ||
| West Mercia | ||
| TOTAL | £4,046,561 | |
Policing costs are also published by individual forces.