Water voles: strategic licences
Natural England’s strategic licence trial for work that affects water voles in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Thurrock or Southend-on-Sea is now closed.
Applies to England
The trial period for this strategic licence for water voles closed on 30 June 2026.
A strategic licence is a new type of licence being developed by Natural England to:
- improve the conservation status of a protected species by addressing the biggest threats and opportunities across the landscape
- make the regulatory process easier and more efficient for applicants
Although the strategic licence pilot has closed, other water vole licensing options are available. You will still need a licence if your work will affect water voles. This includes if you may need to:
- disturb them while they are in a place they use for shelter or protection
- damage or destroy places they use for shelter or protection
- stop water voles accessing places they use for shelter or protection
- take them
- kill or injure them (additional restrictions apply)
Find out about water vole licences that you may be eligible for.
If you’re a business needing multiple licences for routine activities that affect protected species, you may be eligible for an organisation licence.
Strategic licence trial
This strategic licence was trialled from 16 June 2025 to 30 June 2026. It was an alternative to a water vole mitigation or class licence.
The strategic licence offered some advantages to users. They:
- did not need to carry out their own surveys of water voles
- gained earlier decisions on their eligibility, mitigation and compensation requirements for their licence applications
- benefited from increased flexibility during licensed works in most areas
This strategic licence trial was available for projects:
- based in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Thurrock or Southend-on-Sea
- for reasons of overriding public interest (including development) or to preserve public health and safety
Licence and compensation costs
There was no cost for licences for works to preserve public health and safety. Other strategic licences had a set £700 licence fee, which was exempt from VAT.
Licence holders also had to make a financial contribution towards compensation based on the impact of their developments.
Future of the scheme
We are now evaluating the strategic licence trial. We will use insights to make recommendations for developing the approach to strategic licensing.
If you’d like more information about the scheme, you can email the team at WaterVoleSCS@naturalengland.org.uk
Updates to this page
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The trial period for this strategic licence for water voles closed on 30 June 2026.
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First published.