To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the resources, including staff time, needed by Natural England to implement the pilot scheme for the new approach to Great Crested Newt licencing.
Answered on
31 March 2017
Natural England estimates that the Woking pilot has cost approximately £31,000 and involved the equivalent staff time of 2.75 full time employees. The pilot scheme in Kent will cost £180,000, with funding for this being provided jointly from The Department of Communities and Local Government and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The new licensing approach replaces site by site licensing with a new system of district planning level licensing with surveys and habitat compensation undertaken proactively at the district level by Natural England and the local authority.
It will reduce costs for Natural England and costs, uncertainty and risk of delay for developers, while at the same time enhancing the conservation status of Great Crested Newts.