Guidance and regulation

Plants that you need a licence to sell.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and 1 others
• Updated: 26 May 2015

Register for a licence to displace water voles to allow work that could disturb them or damage their burrows and report your actions.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 1 January 2024

How to apply for a licence to cover work that will have a low impact on great crested newts and their habitats.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Updated: 6 November 2023

Register for a licence to survey great crested newts for research, conservation or development projects.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 1 January 2024

Guidance on the methods that can be used to help manage wild birds like geese, gulls and pigeons without a licence.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 26 April 2019

The conditions you must follow if you carry out cage trapping and dispatch of wild birds under Defra and Natural England licences.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and 1 others
• Updated: 1 January 2024

Register for a licence to survey barn owls to assess the effect of a development project on them.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 1 January 2024

Which chemicals you can use in or near a bat roost and what you need to know before you use them.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 25 February 2013

Find out what a volunteer bat roost visitor (VBRV) does and how to get trained and licenced to carry out bat roost visits.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 27 October 2023

How to assess a planning application when there are protected plants, fungi or lichens on or near a proposed development site.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 25 October 2023

Get a licence to trap edible dormice for health and safety and other purposes.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 21 February 2024

How to assess a planning application when there are invertebrates on or near a proposed development site.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 25 October 2023

How to assess a planning application when there are white-clawed crayfish on or near a proposed development site.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 26 October 2023

Terms and conditions for paying for a wildlife licence to carry out work that affects wildlife and its habitat.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 1 October 2021

Register for a licence to temporarily mark hazel dormice to survey for research, conservation or development projects.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 22 March 2024

How Defra and Natural England license the control of certain wild bird species.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and 1 others
• Updated: 14 June 2019

Get a licence to interfere with badger setts for the purpose of conducting forestry operations.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 1 January 2024

Register for a licence to survey bats using harp traps for research, conservation or development projects.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 6 March 2024

Advice for licensed operators on how to cage-trap, vaccinate and mark badgers to control bovine tuberculosis (TB) in England.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and 1 others
• Updated: 28 March 2024

Get advice from Natural England on planning proposals that will require a protected species mitigation licence and what charges apply.

• From: Natural England
• Updated: 3 May 2019