Great crested newts (GCN) are protected through UK and European legislation. The animals, their eggs, breeding sites and resting places are protected by law.
If you intend to develop land where your work will disturb great crested newts or damage their habitat (ponds and land around ponds), you must ensure you have met the legal requirements.
Safeguards may need to be incorporated, either as part of the construction; as a condition of granting the planning; and/or by legal agreement. You will also need a licence to undertake any development works near the newts.
Licence options available to meet these requirements:
Site-based GCN mitigation licence
In this licensing route, developers need to commission their own newt surveys and apply to Natural England for their own newt mitigation licence (if planning permission is needed for the works, the licence can usually only be applied for after planning permission has been granted.)
Environmental surveys will need to be carried out during the newt survey season from mid-March to mid-June to confirm the presence and quantity of newts and this information will need to be presented to us as part of your planning application, along with your mitigation and compensation proposals.
You cannot apply for a licence before the newts are found. If you don't have a licence and newts are found during construction, all building works must stop until a Natural England licence has been granted.
A Low Impact Class licence
This scheme only applies where impacts to GCN and their habitat are considered to be small scale. This is implemented through a consultant ecologist who is registered for the scheme.
District level licensing
District level licensing (DLL) is a new strategic approach to licensing for great crested newts and is now available in Hertfordshire. Traditional licensing requires on site mitigation measures to be carried out. These can delay development as some measures can only be carried out at certain times of the year.
DLL does not require on site mitigation; instead, developers make a payment based on the impact of their development. This conservation payment is used to create compensatory habitat off-site, which is targeted to areas where it will most benefit GCN - making bigger, better and more joined up habitats.
DLL can be used for any type of development, including:
- major and minor housing schemes
- infrastructure projects such as road, rail and pipelines
- industrial/retail developments
- social developments such as education, health and leisure
- private developments
How to apply
If you’d like to apply to the DLL scheme, visit the GOV.UK pages on DLL.