Form

Protected plants: apply for a licence to take them (A31 and LR31)

Apply for a licence to take protected plants for science, education or conservation purposes and find out how to report your actions.

Published 6 October 2014
Last updated 17 July 2015 — see all updates

• From: Natural England

• Applies to: England

Documents

Application for a licence to take wild plants for science, research, education or conservation (A31)

PDF, 419KB, 14 pages

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Report action taken under this licence (LR31)

PDF, 229KB, 4 pages

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Guidance on sampling rare aquatic plants

PDF, 30.1KB, 2 pages

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Details

You must apply for a licence for science, education or conservation purposes to take:

• European protected plants (listed on schedule 5 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010)
• plants listed on schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

You should sample rare aquatic plants using methods that minimise the impact on them. If you can’t avoid harm, you must apply for a licence.

To apply you must:

• complete application form (A31)
• include 2 references from people familiar with your work

Licences are free. Natural England will decide whether to issue a licence within 30 working days of receiving your application

How to report your actions

You must report any actions you took using this licence on the report form LR31. You must report no later than 2 weeks after your licence expires, even if you’ve taken no action. Send your completed form by post or email to Natural England using the details on the form.

You can also use the report form to renew your licence.

Published 6 October 2014
Last updated 17 July 2015 + show all updates

1. 17 July 2015 Replaced application and report forms with revised, interactive PDF versions.
2. 23 April 2015 edited detail text after consulting Natural England's subject matter expert: You should sample rare aquatic plants in a non-destructive way. You'll need a licence if you can't, but you should be using methods that minimise the impact.
3. 6 October 2014 First published.