Great crested newt mitigation licence
Natural England’s district level licensing scheme, which the council is part of, has been introduced to make applying for a great crested newt mitigation licence a more simple process, if your site is affected by great crested newts. Information on the district level licensing scheme can be viewed on the Great crested newts: district level licensing website.
Apply for a licence
You can apply for a great crested newt mitigation licence on the Government website.
Benefits of district level licensing
- It better conserves great crested newts
- It is simple to use
- It offers developers certainty in terms of costs and timescales
- It means developments that have been through planning will not be held up by protracted post-planning licensing
- It results in lots of high value, secure ponds for newts which are managed and monitored for the long term
What does it cost to join the district level licensing scheme in Swindon?
Natural England have put together the following information to explain the breakdown of fees and how the cost to join the scheme is calculated, together with some examples:
Data open to all
As part of the district level licensing project, Natural England completed the largest ever survey of its type for great crested newts across England. This was funded by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The data is open and has been published to ArcGIS online and is available to view on the Government website.
Further information
In autumn 2019, Natural England ran a series of webinars with the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) to provide more information on district level licensing. These are detailed below:
- District Level Licensing: How the NE-led scheme works – scheme overview
- District Level Licensing: eDNA Survey and Data Collection – evidence base #1
- District Level Licensing: Species Distribution Modelling – evidence base #2
- District Level Licensing: Habitat Delivery for the NE-led scheme
- District Level Licensing: How to apply – does what it says!
In addition, you can read more about Natural England’s Geography in Government Award, for their species distribution modelling for the district level licensing project.